Quote Originally Posted by Rocl View Post
Mechanic spoiler for Yian:

You also have to face the target. You kneel and prop up a shield, a lot like Passage of Arms, but your shield has to face whichever monster is using an attack so you're able to block. And like you said, you have to be perfectly still, like Passage of Arms again, any action or movement will cancel your crouch.
Thanks, that was what I was missing. And I was indeed not doing that, which explains the mechanic.

MSQ additional thoughts:

The more I think about the parley, the more annoyed I am with it. The only good point Varis had was against Merlwyb, and that was only because Merlwyb set it up for him so nicely. When she was going on about Lominsans peacefully settling La Noscea, I was going "NO YOU FOOL YOU'RE WALKING RIGHT INTO HIS TRAP".

Merlwyb should have known better, especially since Y'shtola already called her out on it.

The rest of the Alliance was hamstrung by the writers apparently not knowing how to write a proper negotiation. Even Raubahn's original idea of just using the parley as a stalling tactic didn't work, since Varis controlled the pace of the negotiations. And he only did so because he could essentially handle all the Alliance leaders blindfolded with both hands tied behind his back.

It was the NPC negotiation equivalent of Zenos narratively handing us our behinds in Rhalgr's Reach. He's not doing it through skill or tactics. He's just coded to be that much higher in stats, because the writers say so.

Especially disappointed in Aymeric. Where was the Aymeric who managed to get Hraesvelgr to at least listen to him, even if it was Midgardsormr who actually convinced Hraesvelgr?