Nearly three decades after its original release in 1997, a previously unrecruitable party member in the PlayStation RPG Tales of Destiny has been discovered. Lilith Aileron, the younger sister of protagonist Stahn, can now officially be recruited into the player's party without the use of cheats.
The discovery was made by Azekura, an administrator for the Japanese Tales fan site Majestic Fantasian. The recruitment method has since been corroborated by other fans and even acknowledged by one of the game's original developers on X, who apologized for the convoluted process and noted that it could softlock the original Japanese release of the game.
Fans had long known that Lilith was coded into the game as a playable character, and she was known to be recruitable in the PS2 version. However, in the original PS1 release, it was widely assumed she had been cut late in development. The exact requirements for her recruitment are still being refined, but preliminary findings suggest a complex series of actions throughout the game. These reportedly include avoiding taking items from characters' houses, not being reprimanded by party members for deviating from objectives, and speaking with specific characters at certain times. Near the end of the game, players must purchase a particular item at a specific point before speaking to Lilith to initiate recruitment.
Lilith joins the party at a low level, 6, which is significantly behind the typical endgame level. Furthermore, on the original Japanese version of Tales of Destiny, recruiting Lilith causes the game to softlock due to a missing cutscene. Players must save before entering a town, quit the game, and then load the "BEST" version of the game to progress. Jun Toyoda, one of the original producers, apologized on X for the bugs, stating that Ver.1 of Destiny shipped with at least five major bugs, including progression blockers, due to insufficient debugging time. He added that Lilith's features were intended to be cut entirely.
This discovery echoes historical gaming rumors, such as finding Mew under a truck in Pokémon or the methods to save Aerith in Final Fantasy VII. The fan community is celebrating the unearthing and verification of this long-standing secret, with calls for a modern remake of Tales of Destiny to bring the game and its newly found character to a wider audience.