If you could kill off one of the scions...

[MilesSaintboroguh]

How....exactly is it Aplhinaud's fault that Haurchefant died while you also say it wasn't much his fault at all? What are you trying to say?

[Lone-wolfe-02]

Minfillia please. She does NOTHING. Either her or tataru also another useless npc and she's a lala, Insects the lot of them.

[Misutoraru]

about Haurchefant. dont get serious
but honestly, it is the most touching moment i ever have in FFXIV
about Aplhinaud, he do have a great vision but some how immature
i dont like him. but not enough to kill him
i do have a very negative feeling about this characters
yet, he grow up a lot in 3.0, that actually redeem alot

[Cilia]

snip

I'm not denying Minfilia has her... uses (hee). That said, if I were forced to off any of them she'd be my number one pick.

Yeah, you can say she's a good manager, but that's about the extent of her abilities, and we don't honestly see her do a lot of that. Most of her "managing" is dispatching you and another Scion to handle the situation. After she's taken hostage by the Garleans, Alphinaud pretty much fills her shoes for the rest of 2.x; even though he never takes the official title of Antecedent and seriously [kupo]ed up with the Crystal Braves, he at least tried to be proactive and make a difference, and as 3.0 showed he's no slouch in combat and learned from his mistakes.

Minfilia? Spends more time sitting in the Solar than actually doing anything. Dispatches Scions to prevent Primal summonings, but never actually confronts the root of the problem. Despite being armed, hides behind Merlwyb during our venture into the Sapsa Spawning Grounds. Yeah, she tanks Livia's hits like a champ and refuses Nabriales' demands, but besides that she shows little character. She might be a more experienced politician, but if she is she was really blind to what happened with the Crystal Braves (or did nothing to act against the coup) - and as I pointed out before, after she's taken hostage by Livia Alphinaud fills her shoes in all but name.

Presentation could be better, but she also slips the mask off and tells you she's suffering after Moenbryda's death. Everyone is suffering, Minfilia - especially Yda, her adoptive sister! Then there's what they lumped on us at the end of 2.x and through 3.0... unless she was captured by the Ascians and psychologically tortured her for the entire time, I've no sympathy to spare on Minfilia's burdens. We have hers and far more.

Again, I'd save her given the chance. But I don't want to hear her whine about how hard things are for her emotionally when we're constantly risking life and limb and getting nothing but praise (at best) for it.

[Belhi]

Alphinaud doesn't take over her role. The reason Alphinaud is as proactive as he is is because he is free to do so. His leadership of the Scions was really only during 2.0 and considering there was only the WoL, him and an amnesic Cid I hardly call it major management work.

Minfilia isn't a combatant. She may or may not be tough though Livia wouldn't have been trying to beat her to death. I also don't see how the Crystal Braves are at all her fault. She had no authority over them. They were allied but independent of the Scions. They were wholly Alphinaud's project.

He does open up and tell us her suffering which could be seen as annoying. She leans on the WoL because the WoL is everyone's pillar of strength. Its worth noting that its her that the other Scions lean on. She feels that we are the only ones she can open up to since others look to her for strength.

It looks like they are now taking the chance to flesh out the Scions. I suspect we will see development for the other missing Scions if we see them again at least in the same vain as Y'shtola. I am hoping this will be the case for Minfilia too as she has a backstory which has plot threads just asking to be brought back and undoubtedly skills we have never seen her use. As I said before, she never lead anything till she was 18. Her youth was learning from F'lhaminn and evading Garlean Agents targeting her. She is a woman who has been living a false identity for most of her life. There is so much interesting story potential there even possibly tying in her Ala Mhigan heritage. After all her father was a double agent working for the Ala Mhigan Resistance.

[NessaWyvern]

Thancred, because he is a womaniser, and yet ignores my female character completely >.>

[Cilia]

snip

Arguable. What is Minfilia's role exactly? Tell you what to do (which usually boils down to "dispatch the local Scion(s) and you" to deal with X problem). Alphinaud at least tries to make a real difference - he's proactive. Minfilia is just reactive, dealing with crises instead of trying to solve the root of the problem, hence while the Scions are able to save the day they are ineffective at ending the threat of the Primals.

The point with the Crystal Braves was that if you want to pin Minfilia's worth on her political ability and expertise, she should have seen that betrayal coming and warned Alphinaud. (I doubt he would have listened, but that's besides the point.)

Minfilia opens up and admits her weaknesses to you because you're "everyone's pillar of strength," but who is our pillar of strength? What about our pain, anger, and sorrow? ... we're not the invincible, stoic badass the story makes us out to be. "Everyone's pillar of strength" is not a real person; it's not who we are, not beneath that mask.

Is there room to flesh out Minfilia's character? Sure there is, and again, I'd save her given the chance because I don't want anyone to die (except Zephirin, but we settled that score). I personally don't feel like we'd lose much if she were offed, though. It's not just her lack of combat proficiency that makes me dislike her.

[MilesSaintboroguh]

How would she see that betrayal coming or are we going down that debate again on how 2.5 should've been?

[Cilia]

Nah, I don't see the point in debating 2.5.5's ending (and if you'll remember I'm adamantly in the "it's fine the way it is" camp).

The point is, Minfilia's worth is not in the political arena. If you'll remember politics didn't come to prominence until 2.x, and even then it was primarily Alphinaud who did the politicking while Minfilia sat at (or rather stood behind) her desk.

[Walluh]

All that talk about being everyone's pillar of strength makes me want to elect Fray as the new leader of the Scions.