Alphinaud

[Ceasaria]

Y'shtola has gotten some growth in the last two patches and I think it will get more interesting in the next patch, but I think she will not get much love in the expansion. It is a shame cause she is my favorite scion (especially after the last patch with the Magnai bit)

Thancred looks like he is going to get an interesting story arc finally for the next expansion.

Agree for Thancred, Shadowbringers will be his expansion.
For Y'shtola, it will be her moment when Sharlayan will be involved (same for Krile and any character tied to this city).

[Mansion]

Right now(pre-patch) if we did get a garlean "escort" it would seem likely to be Cid, Nero or Shadowhunter. None of whom are exactly "welcome" in their native land. So outcast can still easily apply. I didnt really get that much of a lonely feel from HW personally. We spent most of the expansion with Estinien and/or Ysayle(plus Alphy).

It's more about the "I remember how it used to be" that I dread. I think it's overall lazy writing of past and present of an area/story. What I liked with Ishgard was the constant teasing of the unreachable city before HW, and once we got there we discovered its whole reality at once. How uneven, unfair, dark and elegant it was. And it wasn't told through some prism, it felt real and direct. I don't know if I make sense.

While Gyr Abania focused a bit too much on the one side of the story, which is the resistance and the war, and it brushed off the first feeling of it. The whole narration through Lyse to Papalymo felt awkward too.

[SannaR]

The point of the difference between Yda's and Lyse's character was the Lyse was essentially pretending to be "someone else" the entire time we knew her. That someone else is "Yda". Once Papalymo dies, Lyse finds out everyone knew she wasn't Yda anyway. So she stops pretending to be "Yda" only to realize that she no longer knows who she is as "Lyse.

Stormblood is Lyse figuring out who "Lyse" is. In fact, 4.0 is framed with Lyse narrating the events to her inner Papalymo. Lyse is telling her best friend how she figured out who she truly is when she's not faking being someone else. It's also good to remember that for all of Stormblood, Lyse is dealing with her best friend's death. No matter who she is, Lyse would always be more subdued because of that. If Lyse didn't change when Papalymo died in some way, I'd think they're relationship wasn't as genuine as it came off. Deaths that don't effect characters are as fake as deaths that aren't permanent.

This and that now she's trying to figure out what's the best way forward for her country while also taking into account he isn't there and she can't run to a certain general any time a tough choice comes a long. You can see it when she's trying to think of a way of having the Qalyana there at that meeting while also keeping a summoning from happening. Then doing some very quick thinking on her part to get Fordola involved once we find out the Qalyana tempered some of the guards. Lyse does a lot of soul searching while missing a friend who did the heavy mental lifting and to be a leader she her self would be proud of. While also being ok with not always being able to do Scion things because of her new role at the end of 4.0. If that's not growth then Idk.

[Haxaan]

This and that now she's trying to figure out what's the best way forward for her country while also taking into account he isn't there and she can't run to a certain general any time a tough choice comes a long. You can see it when she's trying to think of a way of having the Qalyana there at that meeting while also keeping a summoning from happening. Then doing some very quick thinking on her part to get Fordola involved once we find out the Qalyana tempered some of the guards. Lyse does a lot of soul searching while missing a friend who did the heavy mental lifting and to be a leader she her self would be proud of. While also being ok with not always being able to do Scion things because of her new role at the end of 4.0. If that's not growth then Idk.

I appreciate everything that Lyse is going through, where she's come from and where she is headed. I personally just feel that her character depth so far is rather lack luster. And part of that could be due to the voice actress, I don't know. So far I just haven't been very impressed. She kind of reminds me of Yuna from FFX. I absolutely love Yuna now, but when I first played FFX her character bothered me because i felt like she had no depth. I appreciated her journey, her sacrifices and her motivations, but at the time her character was just not what I had expected it to be. After playing FFX-2 and seeing her character evolve and grow up, I felt a better attachment to Yuna as a person and respected her even more for going through everything she went through.

I am hoping that Lyse will get some good character development, because as I've said before I really had big hopes for her. Her reveal gave me a brand new character to look forward to seeing and instead she has become this one dimensional character who you want to feel something for but have a hard time doing.

[Theodric]

My issue with Lyse is that her naivety and stupidity led to a number of people getting Tempered. People who had no doubt fought in the liberation effort and survived the immense odds stacked against them...only to be corrupted and killed because of Lyse's foolish decision making. Imagine being a family member of one those individuals? Worrying about their well being throughout the entirety of the war effort. Seeing them survive and then...hearing that they were Tempered by a Beast Tribe openly aligned with Lakshmi that Lyse invited to a meeting.

She receives no meaningful criticism or consequences for her actions. The implications of her actions do not even appear to be noted to any major degree - because the story brushes it off as Arenvald and Fordola swooping in to help save the day. The VIP guests are perfectly fine - so it's treated as a victory, yet there's no real justice or apology for the 'fodder' that get killed due to Lyse's actions. Sadly, even if it were to be addressed I have a feeling it'd just be hand-waved as a risk of the job that they signed up for.

At this point, I'd be content with her being largely confined to Ala Mhigo and being written out of the plot beyond the occasional cameo. Arenvald and Fordola can step up to take her place when Ala Mhigo needs to be represented.

[Haxaan]

My issue with Lyse is that her naivety and stupidity led to a number of people getting Tempered. People who had no doubt fought in the liberation effort and survived the immense odds stacked against them...only to be corrupted and killed because of Lyse's foolish decision making. Imagine being a family member of one those individuals? Worrying about their well being throughout the entirety of the war effort. Seeing them survive and then...hearing that they were Tempered by a Beast Tribe openly aligned with Lakshmi that Lyse invited to a meeting.

She receives no meaningful criticism or consequences for her actions. The implications of her actions do not even appear to be noted to any major degree - because the story brushes it off as Arenvald and Fordola swooping in to help save the day. The VIP guests are perfectly fine - so it's treated as a victory, yet there's no real justice or apology for the 'fodder' that get killed due to Lyse's actions. Sadly, even if it were to be addressed I have a feeling it'd just be hand-waved as a risk of the job that they signed up for.

I honestly had a similar feeling towards Hien and the way things were dealt with during the Yostuyu arch. I understand that things happened the way they did to allow for the story to progress... But the fact that Hien continuously had her put in custody of his peons and she continued to escape while he should have been the one to deal with the situation really made me look at him in a different light.

[Claymore65]

Since we're talking about Lyse, I'll admit I'm not a big fan of her as a character. In my opinion, Lyse is split into two roles, one of which works in my opinion and the other which doesn't. Lyse serves as both a Scion/Companion throughout Stormblood, as well as the leader of Ala Mihgo.

As the Warrior of Light's Companion and as a Member of the Scions, I think they actually did a fine job with Lyse. Lyse is your most constant companion throughout Stormblood. She has a large amount of scenes, some of which are genuinely endearing or funny. For example, Lyse punting Gyodo in Kugane was some great physical comedy, and her hugging an embarrassed Alisaie after the Ruby Sea adventures was both endearing and cute. Similarly, Lyse goes through kind of an interesting arc with Fordola, going from outright hatred (when Fordola and Skulls oppress the harrowed citizenry) to a measured forgiveness (releasing Fordola to aid in the fight against Lakshmi). Lyse travels with the WoL throughout all of Doma, and is present for most of the major story beats. As a companion, she's fairly endearing, if a bit naive and foolish. I'll admit she's not the most interesting character, but she works well enough.

However for me, Lyse as "Leader of Ala Mihgo" falls completely flat. Lyse doesn't have many opportunities in the story to truly demonstrate why she's "Leadership Material". Lyse was born in Ala Mihgo, but wasn't raised there (she left when she was very young), and as such isn't even recognized by her supposed hometown. Lyse didn't spend years fighting in the Ala Mihgan Resistance (though her sister apparently did). She did spend some time fighting after becoming a fugitive in 2.55, but almost all of that is completely off-screen, and not elaborated upon. Her largest connection is with M'Naago, but as the Tales from the Stormblood story demonstrates, she hasn't even known her particularly long. Lyse is shown to be impulsive, like when she almost launched an assault on the Skulls that would have likely gotten her killed. It's great that she won't stand for injustice, but she is never really shown making the right decisions for the long-term. Lyse isn't the one who solves the economy problem in Ala Mihgo, that's a combination of Alphinaux, Arenvald, and the Sultana. Even her one big "Leadership" moment, releasing Fordola, is coupled with a major mistake, i.e. inviting the Qalyana to the summit. I remember when Conrad threw all the death flags he could, and declared Lyse as the one to take over his position as leader of the resistance. I could only think "Why?" Lyse didn't have the most leadership experience, M'Naago seemed to be his second-in-command. Hell, Lyse literally abandoned the Resistance to go adventure in Doma right after Rhalgr's Reach was destroyed. Why would he think she had what it takes to lead a nation? This part just fell flat for me. It felt like she needed to be the leader because, well, the story said so.

To be honest, I almost hope we get an arc where Raubahn more or less becomes the new leader of Ala Mihgo, while Lyse gets the opportunity to re-join the Scions in some capacity. I think she works a lot better in that role.

To make things even worse, Stormblood more or less perfectly introduced a different new character as the future-leader of a nation: Hien. Hien is proven to be a great leader from the instant he's introduced. He's shown putting the needs of his nation above his own in his opening lines, asking whether they need his blade (to fight Garlemald) or his head (to admit defeat). He proves he can play the long game, like how his seeming exile to the Azim Steppes was actually to acquire the aid of a Xaela army. He proves he can throw away the past in the name of a new future when he flooded Doma Castle to win. He's consistently shown as a competent leader, so I didn't have any problems when he became king of Doma.

TLDR; Lyse works okay as a scion/companion, but she's not as convincing as the Leader of Ala Mihgo.

[Songwillow]

My issue with Lyse is that her naivety and stupidity led to a number of people getting Tempered. People who had no doubt fought in the liberation effort and survived the immense odds stacked against them...only to be corrupted and killed because of Lyse's foolish decision making. Imagine being a family member of one those individuals? Worrying about their well being throughout the entirety of the war effort. Seeing them survive and then...hearing that they were Tempered by a Beast Tribe openly aligned with Lakshmi that Lyse invited to a meeting.

She receives no meaningful criticism or consequences for her actions. The implications of her actions do not even appear to be noted to any major degree - because the story brushes it off as Arenvald and Fordola swooping in to help save the day. The VIP guests are perfectly fine - so it's treated as a victory, yet there's no real justice or apology for the 'fodder' that get killed due to Lyse's actions. Sadly, even if it were to be addressed I have a feeling it'd just be hand-waved as a risk of the job that they signed up for.

At this point, I'd be content with her being largely confined to Ala Mhigo and being written out of the plot beyond the occasional cameo. Arenvald and Fordola can step up to take her place when Ala Mhigo needs to be represented.

Granted, I think you are giving Lyse too little credit. She was asked to lead a rebellion that she didn't want to lead because the leader died, she had no military experience and didn't know how to make vital decisions, she was thrown to the wolves and this led to the loss of people. This is why she wanted Raubaun to be a military commander because she knew she didn't have the power to make decisions without a military expert on hand to guide her. She worked with what she was given and mistakes were made. She is naive, yes, as is anyone that is new to a resistance movement, even though she is a Scion, she is still a civilian that wants to fight for her country. She has determination, but doesn't have the experience that other fighters have. Also despite her failures, she did help make it possible for Ala Mhigo to be reclaimed by being a diplomat. She also tried to take precautions but things still went sour for her. She isn't stupid though, hell Alphinaud made more mistakes than Lyse when trying to form the Crystal Braves. She will likely be taken out of the story as major character but still her efforts were not in vain.

[TheHeavenAbyss]

He actually disappears if you've completed every sidequest he's involved in.

I know. The point was that, as long as you have not completed said quests, he keeps appearing there even if he is absent in the MSQ. So the argument that "quest givers can't die/change drastically" is invalid, in my opinion, because even if they are absent in the story, the game allows for these "time bubbles" to exist where the quest givers are still doing their job.

[Tsubaki75]

I don't entirely understand how Y'shtola got to be the mascot in the first place, when there's a specific player-stand-in character (generic Midlander trailer guy) they could use.

His name is Derplander