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

[MilesSaintboroguh]

snip

What you're not seeing is people are disliking most of the Scions because they don't help the WOL/you directly; you're the muscle, they're the brains. People want NPCs that actually help out rather than bark orders or sit back while the player does everything (then again most RPGs go that way anyway). I still don't agree with the "kill em all" mentality since it comes off as a tantrum to me plus I severely hate it when people and writers alike think killing characters off is the only way to write someone out of the story.

[Tenkuu]

What you're not seeing is people are disliking most of the Scions because they don't help the WOL/you directly; you're the muscle, they're the brains. People want NPCs that actually help out rather than bark orders or sit back while the player does everything (then again most RPGs go that way anyway). I still don't agree with the "kill em all" mentality since it comes off as a tantrum to me plus I severely hate it when people and writers alike think killing characters off is the only way to write someone out of the story.

Your very first meeting with Thancred (or whoever your starting city Scion(s) is/are): he's right there fighting with you. When you're fighting an Ascian and his monster a little later on, right when things start to get dicy, there's Thancred again, coming to the rescue. Castrum Centri, when you're escaping, everyone is right there fighting the Magiteks as you go and disable the devices protecting them. They don't help you all the time because then people would complain that it doesn't feel like we are real heroes and capable of handling a fight on our own. Point being: you really can't please everyone no matter what you do, but the Scions do strike the perfect balance between being both your support group (providing intelligence) and your fighting partners. RO2, for instance, felt very lacking in that respect. Of the few NPCs that were likeable, hardly any of them ever participated in fights with you. It felt extremely impersonal and was only one of the reasons that leveling past level 50 was tedious and repetitive.

Regarding the "kill them all" mentality though, the Scions are generally against it. The move to Mor Dhona occurs specifically because they all are uncomfortable with the idea of fighting just any random cause and want to have the freedom to choose their causes.