When does Stormblood get good?[Spoilers?]

[Halivel]

But she lacked personality, development, expression...

Tbh, it could be made so intentionally. I mean... she wasn't a person for 5 years after calamity, and wasn't one either in ARR-SB period, because she was her sister. It would be weird to immediately become a whole new person when you barely regained your own name just some time ago.

[Oichi]

Tbh, it could be made so intentionally. I mean... she wasn't a person for 5 years after calamity, and wasn't one either in ARR-SB period, because she was her sister. It would be weird to immediately become a whole new person when you barely regained your own name just some time ago.

That's a very fair point, and I have to admit she does gain some proper identity towards the end. I just wish she had been a bit more compelling a character during the transition, cause the idea was good.

[Siete]

That's a very fair point, and I have to admit she does gain some proper identity towards the end. I just wish she had been a bit more compelling a character during the transition, cause the idea was good.

At least I have Alisaie and Yugiri making sense even through their recklessness.
For now, I've decided to defect to the Empire until my fellow Eorzeans tape Lyse to a lamp post for the rest of the campaign.

[Rhais]

Tbh, it could be made so intentionally. I mean... she wasn't a person for 5 years after calamity, and wasn't one either in ARR-SB period, because she was her sister. It would be weird to immediately become a whole new person when you barely regained your own name just some time ago.

The problem with all this though, is the way she was put into a position of leadership. She was underdeveloped as a character, pretty much one dimensional and what they did portray of her certianly wasn't leadership material. Yet somehow that's Conrad's first choice as a successor? And everyone else is fine with this too? She clearly isn't cut out for the role she was given, which just makes her even more irritating.

[Enla]

The problem with all this though, is the way she was put into a position of leadership. She was underdeveloped as a character, pretty much one dimensional and what they did portray of her certianly wasn't leadership material. Yet somehow that's Conrad's first choice as a successor? And everyone else is fine with this too? She clearly isn't cut out for the role she was given, which just makes her even more irritating.

Spoilers for OP's sake.

I always saw it as nepotism honestly given who her father is. Conrad specifically says that isn't the case but let's be honest 'because you're you' doesn't hold much water either as a reason when up until that point Lyse hasn't done any leading or shown any qualities that would make her seem a good fit for that role. Of course logistically there was likely a good chunk of her character development that had to be cut to make the first part of the expansion an acceptable length, so for all we know there were going to be instances where she did show she was perfect for the job. It's just if they did exist they never made it into the game.

Honestly I really wonder how different SB would have been if they had broken up the story more and had the liberation take place in a later patch. It would have given Lyse the time she desperately needed to be fleshed out because out of all the issues with that expansion, Lyse really is the character with the most wasted potential. Good on paper but the writing just did her no favors at all.

Which is a shame because has she been written competently she'd have been my favorite character in the expansion. The time she spends in the Steppes really shows growth on her part and I was excited to see where it went... And learning that Ishikawa was in charge of the Steppes content for SB I have to wonder if she had some hand in that. Because Lyse basically had a full character reversal once they went back to Ala Mhigo and it was like someone else was writing her again. Which then only got worse when whomever was in charge of her basically gave up by 4.2 because any outstanding character growth she could have had is abandoned by the time we get back to Ala Mhigo again.