Yotsuyu, Fordola, syndrom of "a good writting"? (spoil)

Hello

Progressing in SB around probably 80% of the main story, a good way after ala mhigo freedom, i d like to hear your feel about those two antagonnist.

Until now SB was a kind of ARR with the narrative, very boring, with annoying caracter like lyse, bad guy cliché, odds really "déjà vu" quest and map not at all original;,(i dont look for an asian turism tour)
and i dont know what happened since Zenos defeat, it feel like the developper chose to hire some writter!

First i really liked the arc of Nanamo where she learn in insight scene, to becom an automnic ruler, including even the wtf godbert in there lore (where i thought it was just a crazy creation which cant be integrate in the real story) with very interesting argument about politic to do with immigrant.

Ok so what about those two women?

I dont know for you, but i like them both, as antagonnist they got an interesting background with mature topic. Also i respect them so more than this joke of "lyse" cause they have something, they look like very strong willed women, with very tough convincing feel about their choice and their way to reach their goal.

Fordola is just great, she doesnt fear Zenos, like 80% of the people working for him, she assumes her decsion, all of them, when she failed, when she took the decision to kill her brother in arm, she doesnt regret her choice to reach her goal, be accepted as a human with same right in the empire. Nothing seems stop her, and she doesnt flee. Of course we can discuss about moral stuff, but here i salute more her way to be honnest with herself on her action, and be somone who acte instead "crying, complaining"

Yotsuyu

To be honnest, i didnt expect such treatment of her character, bring her back in a "kind" of children mood, (childhood that she never got and it seem she would like have got) All the topic about her past, is really mature, i mean the narrativ present her story in a kind of "hard way mode" meaning it doesnt try to make feel pity for her, but show you how crual and cold was her reality.

When the guy tell about her life in the "whorehouse", where we can easy imagine her daylies, how she grinded the social ladder to be free of this condition. and of course thos "goeler" which at this level werent never parent, but torturer and criminal. All this is lay out with something cold, that even main character do not pay much attention to it, just Alisaie mention her feel about one time.

Those topic are really mature and speak heavely about "children" right, and women statu in some traditionnal society. Of course what she did is unforgivable, however, those who built her as monster were so more evil than she sound never be, i mean, it is just like if she looked for a few love in her whole life, and all she got was cruelty.

SB remaining very bad in many aspect for me, but some stuff are savable it seems. And jesus, why scene sound better when lyse is not here???


Whats your feel about those two caracter?

I liked both Fordola and Yotsuyu.... though I must admit I like Yotsuyu a bit more because of her character arc. It took me completely by surprise when she came back childlike and I was really rooting for her to get a happy ending with Gosestu. Sure she did a lot of really horrifying things, but she was clearly as much a victim as anyone else... especially being cast off as she was by her family and never being given a chance to be a child. I hated how her brother destroyed that with his schemes. Fordola, on the other hand.... man oh man. I respect her for owning her decisions and actions. She embraced her path heart and soul, regardless of how much it destroyed her to do so.

I enjoyed the Stormblood storyline because it did a great job of showcasing that women can be strong just like men. And yea, in the case of Yotsuyu and Fordola, that strength empowered them to do very horrible things, but it was great to see. In a lot of ways, the three main women in Stormblood are foils of each other... Fordola showing what happens when you devote yourself to a path at the expense of all else, Yotsuyu showing how the scars of the past can twist a person even many years later, and Lyse kinda brings traits of the other two into one person and shows that you can devote yourself to a cause without sacrificing your ideals and overcoming personal tragedy can be achieved without letting that tragedy taint you.

I like them both though for me Fordola was trying to win a losing battle as almost every garlean looks down on any non garlean. She'd never be seen as an equal no matter how high she got. Fordola is also one of the few people who through her man made echo saw what we've been through and all the hardships we've endured and brought up probably one of the best points so far about the Wol. In how in the seven hells is our character still "sane" and still able to do what we do with so little breaks. I like that now she is having to deal with the other effects of having an echo and I guess learning some empathy and a wanting to live. Hopefully she is brought back even if it's just a little bit in the second half of 4.55's story because We could really use someone like her right now.

I think the only thing I didn't like about Yotsuyu is the fact she didn't die earlier. I'm fine with how they handled her after the fact but there are a lot of people not staying dead. To the point where a lot of people are starting to feel like it doesn't matter. When you already are dealing with enemies where you have to kill them with a crapton of aether and when "normal" people are also cheating death you just kind of shrug.

The Hildibrand stuff might be for laughs, but they do sort of exist outside of that bubble and Godbert does have a seat as part of the syndicate after they tried to kill him in 1.0's Hilidbrand all because I guess they didn't want someone as odd as him part of it. Also if you did all of the side quests in Bronze Lake you'd of met Godbert there and oiled him up. XD

I liked Yotsuyu and I thought she deserved her revenge. I think if the story was told from her perspective from the beginning we would have been on her side. In fact, after learning about how she came to be so tormented and how those terrible little villages allow and presumably continue to allow that to happen to people made me want to help her...they all deserve to burn.

Lyse...Lyse was just done wrong. It's supposed to be a coming of age story for her and it just does not click, not for me....at all...ever. She's way to cliche, too something... She struggles with her decisions on the moral playing field of childlike innocence which does not gel with the hellish warzone the story takes place in. I mean, they try to explain this by having her grow up outside of Ala Mhigo, outside of Imperial slavery....but....I just think someone of her temperament would melt like a snowflake in a blast furnace. Or that she would completely change, shed that childlike innocence once she's properly seen what happened to her family, her countrymen. In fact, I think she might become like the villains... I guess I'm just sick of the "maintaining moral integrity" trope. Lyse's story is frikkin tragic, she should be tragic, broken, and interesting.

Didn't like Yotsuyu at all. Trying to seesaw her between cartoonish, mustache-twirling villainy and, "she's technically a different person" innocence does nothing for me. "Tsuyu" copout or not.

I think her story could have been interesting if it was handled differently. As it is, I found both versions of her just too heavy-handed.

MAJOR SPOILER WARNING

Do not read if you haven't cleared Tsukiyomi.

I actually didn't like the Yotsuyu and Goestsu arc personally. I believe their story should have ended at Doma castle and that we should have gone from there as I believe that it would have been the perfect ending to their respective stories.

Yotsuyu crushed by the castle of the nation that she tried to crush, dying in the depths of despair of her failure with absolutely nowhere to go and she receives terrible death as punishment for all the terrible things she did. Meanwhile, Gosetsu sacrifices himself to save Hiei and the WoL thus completing his own character arc of seeking an honorable way and place to die, finally able to be at peace knowing that he at least dies with honor while Yotsuyu dies dishonored and shamed.

In my opinion there was no better way that their stories could have ended, what would have made it even better from there is if they found Gosetsu's katana in the water and brought it to Hiei who could then wield it as he took all of Gosetsu's lessons to heart and became the new mentor/teacher as Gosetsu was to him and create a new era of Doman samurai. That would have been the perfect end to Gosestu/Yotsuyu and I'm not pleased by the way it was handled ultimately.

I've grown a bit weary of antagonists getting redemption arcs or getting to go out on a sympathetic note no matter how depraved they were prior to their defeat. I'm not opposed to it happening every now and then, but it's a hand that gets overplayed across various media. Not all villains deserve redemption, and not all villains who deserve redemption should end up getting it. Life doesn't work that way and neither should storytelling.

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Originally Posted by Camiie

I've grown a bit weary of antagonists getting redemption arcs or getting to go out on a sympathetic note no matter how depraved they were prior to their defeat. I'm not opposed to it happening every now and then, but it's a hand that gets overplayed across various media. Not all villains deserve redemption, and not all villains who deserve redemption should end up getting it. Life doesn't work that way and neither should storytelling.

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It's been a thing in Final Fantasy games for as long as they've existed. It's why a lot of us are very fond of the franchise in the first place. By your logic, characters such as Kain, Golbez, Rufus, Seifer, Gabranth and Beatrix would be cut down where they stood for their shadier actions. If such an approach had been embraced, the games they showed up in would not be nearly so memorable.