Thancred's new THF/NIN Skills

[Shai]

nah he didn't change, he did that stuff in 1.0 as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHfGYfINipI

By the way,
This video is a great example how of the storytelling in 1.0 was so unbelievably better than it is now. The Circle feels real, and powerful. They act like they know what they're doing and they are here for a purpose.

The characters in ARR pale in comparison. They feel lifeless and static. They are like reminders of these cool characters I used to know, but are nothing like them anymore. This new video of Thancred acting like a badass actually made me kinda tear up because it's good to see him back to his old self.

Its sad the only NPC that's received any inkling of life in ARR is Cid (and they did a fairly decent job with him). I think characters (NPC) and getting to know them and their mysterious backgrounds was a strength in 1.0 and a serious weakness in ARR.

[Felis]

By the way,
This video is a great example how of the storytelling in 1.0 was so unbelievably better than it is now. The Circle feels real, and powerful. They act like they know what they're doing and they are here for a purpose.

But they were only until storyquest r15 (the character meet only 1 of them) and in the last mainstory quest. 90% of the mainstory was about Minfilla, the Path of Twelve and our joyful Miqo'te companion.
And yes, i mean the original mainstory, not the 7th umbral era story that brought Yoshida later ingame.

[Shai]

But they were only until storyquest r15 (the character meet only 1 of them) and in the last mainstory quest. 90% of the mainstory was about Minfilla, the Path of Twelve and our joyful Miqo'te companion.
And yes, i mean the original mainstory, not the 7th umbral era story that brought Yoshida later ingame.

Yes, which is why I'm particularly fond of Y'sh and Thancred and have no clue who Yda and Papalymo are - that ending though (to the original Tanaka storyline) was more or less where the Path & Circle stories were going to converge and progress onward. My wife - on the other hand - absolutely adores Yda and Papalymo, two characters that (from my perspective) could be taken out of ARR and absolutely nothing would change cause they add nothing and do nothing. Every character in ARR (except Cid) could easily be "stock NPC" and that includes the 3 Generals. If I didn't have feelings for them that carried over from 1.0, they would all be irrelevant - even Yoshida's 1.0 work was better told.

On the subject of Minfilia - she's the biggest culprit. I spend the entirety of ARR main story (of which I've done it 2x now) wondering why anyone listens to her or takes her seriously. What I want is a female lead who is strong, knowledgeable and commanding (something Merlwyb doesn't even do very well in ARR) and instead we have a confused little girl who's only job in the story is to get captured. I would have just as soon not saved her. "Oh darn. Empire got her. Back to killing Primals by myself, cause not like any of them ever really helped."