Yotsuyu [Maybe spoiler]

[Theodric]

I'm generally not a fan of 'villain' being used as a catch all term. There's a distinction to be made, I feel, between a villain and an antagonist. The former is usually someone who is straight up villainous and with few, if any redeeming qualities. Someone like Zenos or Yotsuyu, in other words. They're both shown to take immense pleasure in torturing others. An antagonist, however, shows doubts - they're opposed to the protagonists but aren't necessarily bad people and have sympathetic motives/sound reasoning from their perspective. They may be fighting to protect the interests of their homeland and people. To avenge their fallen brethren. They're unlikely to take pleasure in grim actions but may see them as an unfortunate necessity. Or they may simply be frigid and out of touch with their emotions. I'd consider the likes of Regula and Gaius to be antagonists rather than straight up villains.

As for Yotsuyu, I prefer her as a straight up villain. She worked rather well but it won't sit well with me if both Fordola and Yotsuyu end up getting redeemed and stick around for quite some time when more sympathetic antagonists such as Ysayle and the Warriors of Darkness only ended up getting redemption and their motives fully explained through their death. Granted, the amnesia storyline does have the potential for her to become even more messed up to the point where she lashes out in confusion and fear rather than due to hate...but at the same time, this is a Japanese game and I can't shake my concerns that it could just as easily be a plot device designed to keep an attractive former villain around, complete with her becoming shy, submissive and childlike.

I'll reserve my full judgement for the patch itself, though. Trailers have been deceptive before so we likely don't have the full picture just yet.

[Belhi]

While I agree that antagonists, don't necessarily have to be villians, people will get more invested in a story emotionally if a villain is present, even if they aren't the only antagonist. Case in point with Giaus. We could call him a sympathetic antagonist but Livia (is that the right name) came across as a brutal and cruel person and Lahabrea was definitely villainous.

With Fordola and Yotsuyu, I think they may serve different narrative purposes. That said, having them at the same time might have been a mistake. However Fordola is someone definitely set up for a redemption arc. Yotsuyu though seems to be someone who is very disturbed and I think that might address another aspect of the story. It all comes down really to how they chose to move her story forward. Most people are pretty dismissive of what happened to her but I think that is because for most people it is out of context. She is just a hateful and cruel hag. However, unless I am reading way too much into it, we are seeing a severely traumatised woman lashing out on the society that traumatised her. Even her cruelty is an expression of it (particularly since it sounds like she dealt with the emotions through detachment). Her cruelty is the only outlet for her supressed rage and pain which she simply lacks the ability to process normally. Remember when we first meet her she makes the villager do more and more painful and horrible things to survive. Survival is all important right? Doesn't matter who gets hurt as long as you survive right? Remember they said when she was first mentioned that 'everyone is the hero of their own story'.

If they use her to explore her past and the environment that allowed her to go through what she went through, it could be a compelling narrative about the price of allowing injustice for the sake of peace and safety. She becomes an expression of the cost, the 'sin' for Doma complying to the will of the Empire and any injustices that followed. If I am right about her mental state, it would be pretty lame if she recovers to a be a normally functioning person by the end of the expansion. That type of mental breakdown takes a long time to recover from if recovery is even possible. Often it isn't. The person is pretty much broken from that point. I think the fact they introduce someone who is almost certainly her family is significant as well.

Again I might be reading too much into it but I am kind of hoping that 4.2 has Doma having a reflective look at itself. We will see.

[Ametrine]

My only issue with the Black Rose side-quest is the Elementals, or at least their laws, could technically have affected the fate of the scientist, despite his obvious brain damage.

His Black Rose was poisoning the environment over the course of a few years on top of the horrible murders of Bittermill's population. So, even if one side was more interested in institutionalizing him, you'd be hard pressed to convince any Adder of that.

That's not exactly the case with Tsuyu, despite similarly damaged, unless Kami have similarly strict laws on the safety and care of eastern lands and people, it's possible some citizenry may say her living a life mentally destroyed is punishment enough.

[DamianFatale]

Something I've noticed is that both leaders of the two newest MSQ focused city states were thought to be dead in a sense. Xenos we don't know what is going to happen with him. He could end up like Nidhogg. Yotsuyu isn't dead, but shes not even the same person. She's been reset in a sense. We also know that someone was brought back to the emperor of Garlemald.. it could be Xenos. Lastly Fordola is alive, and Yotsuyu has a brother..

My theory is that the plot is going to involve Xenos again at some point. I don't think they'd make him the figure, and face of Stormblood if something to do with him wasn't going to show up later.

As for Yotsuyu, I think that she really might have amnesia, but it will end up causing a conflict with her brother. Her brother might seek to remind her of the monster she used to be, and encourage evil. On the other hand Gosetsu could do the opposite, with the three them leading into a huge character arc.

Fordola I think will eventually betray the Garleans, and possibly become a scion. What she really wanted all along was to survive. It's just going to take time for her to believe in the strength of the alliance. She knows how strong the Garleans are, and doesn't want to end up with nothing.

As for the end? I don't know. I just think Stormblood is meant to have complex relationships with the enemy. It's not supposed to be easy to follow.

[NosamKin]

Are there any Japanese movies/stories with these kinds of characters? It may give insite into there this is headed. I'm not aware of any but am not an "expert" on Japanese stories.

For example, Xenos is the bad guy right out of the movie "13 assassins".

[Khalithar]

I just want to add I still don't like the fact that Yotsuyu and Gosetsu survived the fall of Doma Castle, I actually thought that entire scene with Doma was the pinnacle of their character arcs.

Gosetsu dies in one last act of service, giving his life to protect his master, the perfect end to a samurai. Ideally then, they would have found his katana and Hien mounts it on his wall as an eternal reminder of his beloved teacher, maybe even passes it down to his own son and heir someday.

Yotsuyu dies alone and unmourned in the ruined castle so much like the land she herself brought so much pain to and would have died miserable and filled with hate and regret.

It was a perfect end to both of them, it could have not been executed (no pun intended) any better than that. But no, SE decided both of them had to survive and I found myself really annoyed by it.

[SeriousxSarcasm]

snip.

See and I look at it differently. >w< I like that we didn't get the neat little perfect ending wrapped up in a bow for us. They made it awkward and complicated. Took these 2 fairly flat characters (as far as their story arcs went), and threw a wrench into it. Makes it seem more realistic and less cliche RPG story telling. XD

Edit: I think it's an interesting theme to explore is all. Gosetsu didn't get his quick and honorable end, but he's old, he likely doesn't have many years of fighting left and is now charged with the care of someone who tortured him and screwed over his homeland so thoroughly. Yotsuyu escaped justice but she's in the middle of some very messy trauma, someone who used to be independent and powerful now helpless and forced to rely on the same people she oppressed. I just think it's a very interesting and messy twist, there's a lot of potential for character development, and I honestly don't see them waltzing off into a peaceful life. I think it'll get really dark, this expansion has already proven the writers aren't afraid to get really gritty and morbid at times, so I'm kinda looking forward to it. :3