Got around to doing my grumping about Shadowbringers.
Time Travel and Cheating Death:
Final Fantasy, and Square-Enix games in general, have a pretty long history with time travel. From FF1's stable time loop that doesn't actually break despite the ending's insistence that it did, to Chrono Trigger abandoning the Grandfather Paradox once it becomes inconvenient to the plot, to everything about Time Compression and Ultimecia's junction machine Elone dear god why, it's pretty clear that the people who write for these franchises love them some time travel.
And so do I! My favorite movie of all time is Terminator 2: Judgement Day. The same movie made me fall in love with robots, machines, and androids for a good chunk of my life (now it's because of Omega-F, Xenoblade Chronicles' Character Seven, Compound 2P, and other such things).
So why do I dislike Shadowbringers' use of it? It's actually really simple: Because the writer kept writing checks they weren't willing to cash. For example, we never learn why the Exarch tried to summon us when he did. From a meta-perspective, the story has to happen in the order they wrote it, so he can't summon us from a period before the end of Stormblood. But the writer did work in a scene where G'raha Tia says it (summoning us) had to happen after a certain event, and yet an explanation for why is never even hinted at.
There's also the matter of what happened to the Eighth Umbral Era. It's one big open mystery, and the answer they gave to try and solve it amounted to "Well, I (the Exarch) still exist, so all is well. Don't worry about it." This holds doubly true for the talk about G'raha Tia's soul post-finale: It's pretty much just "Y'shtola says my soul is fine. Don't worry about it."
In the case of the latter, it could be said that we're actually supposed to worry about it—foreshadowing something involving his soul and whatever happened to it when he merged with his past self. But in the case of the former, there's a very good chance that we'll never visit the First again after the final wing of Eden. And there's a very good chance that we'll never even hear of the Eighth Umbral Era again. These aren't 0% chances, mind you, but still. If the writers have no intention of ever revisiting these concepts, I'd appreciate them just closing the threads off in a decisive fashion instead of leaving them hanging.
Oh, and I guess I should probably say it: I'm OK with the Exarch cheating death if it means the writers are open to other characters getting to come back. We don't have to go full Kingdom Hearts on it, with everyone and their Nobody, Nobody's Nobody, Replica, and imaginary friend getting a new lease on life. Just... let Minfilia keep her promise, please.
Minfilia's role in Shadowbringers:
Due to the vagueness of her reincarnation cycle, the writer's attempt to patch it up by comparing it how Ascians work, and the fact that her only two scenes this expansion revolve around the life or death choice she presents to Ryne, the impression I got is this: Not only has Minfilia been willingly sacrificing innocent children to fulfill her duty, but she's become revered as a hero for doing so. I'm not going to mince words: If true, that's pretty screwed up. It tarnishes Minfilia's character in a terrible way, and given how hard the writing shills for Minfilia and her legacy, I don't believe it was intentional at all.
And I think this could've been easily fixed with just one more scene. You know how Minfilia's old meta role in 2.0-2.55 was to be the character you returned to after major plot events? Pray return to the Waking Sands, or so the meme goes? Ardbert serves the same purpose in Shadowbringers: After every Lightwarden is defeated, you return to your room for some R&R and a friendly chat with him. Most of these are pretty good, and serve to inform you more about his character or the world.
But I believe one of these scenes, specifically the post-Qitana Ravel/Rak'tika scene, would've been better served if it was Minfilia who approached you instead of Ardbert. That scene could have then gone into some much needed exposition on the nature of the Oracles, their relationship to Ran'jit and Minfilia herself, and the reason for the life or death choice presented to Ryne.
Here's the idea in a nutshell: For the past hundred years, Minfilia has kept vigil over the Empty in Naabath Areng to ensure that the Flood of Light does not return. And while her consciousness is directed towards this duty, her soul lies dormant within a young girl of her choosing. This girl, upon being gifted her soul and awakening to her power, is taken to Eulmore to be trained by Ran'jit. Aside from granting her necessary combat expertise, his training is also meant to unlock the Oracle's power. To wit: Becoming the "True Oracle" requires time and effort, not sacrifice. And while the girl can go to Naabath Araeng to communicate with Minfilia, this is done to seek her counsel or simply talk with her. Minfilia appreciated these moments, as they were a welcome reprieve from her lonely vigil.
All this changed when Vauthry was born. Ran'jit and the Oracle of that era were staunchly opposed to the changes his existence brought to Eulmore, namely the city becoming home to the Sin Eaters gathering around him, and were exiled for it. And while they sought refuge in the Crystarium for a time, that Oracle died shortly after. Subsequent Oracles scarcely lasted more than a few months after awakening, as Sin Eaters began hunting them down. In response, Minfilia stopped "reincarnating" for many years out of guilt.
Then one day, thirteen years before the WoL's arrival, Ran'jit approached her with a very young girl (2-4 years old) in his arms. He claimed her parents were killed by sin eaters, and asked Minfilia to grant the girl her blessing. She did, and Ran'jit promptly returned to Eulmore to lock her away. In exchange for his total obedience to Vauthry, now the ruler of Eulmore, she was to be kept safe within the city's walls until the world ended.
Three years before the WoL's arrival, Thancred freed the girl from Eulmore and took her to Naabath Araeng. Just as she did for Oracles past, Minfilia reached out to communicate with the girl, hoping to teach her how to use her power in Ran'jit's stead. But between her boxed upbringing and fear over what's happening to her, she was overwhelmed by Minfilia's presence. This led to the events seen in her first Shadowbringers appearance, and offers an explanation for why she's making Ryne choose. To put it simply: The First is running out of time, and it would take too long to teach the girl as she is. That life or death choice isn't something forced onto every Oracle, it's a last resort. And Minfilia is deeply sorry for that. The last thing she wants to do is kill a child, even if it would save both worlds.
Now, all of that sounds like a lot to fit into a single cutscene—and it is! But I think it's doable. And I think they could even do it while accounting for player input. For example:
"Minfilia" (read: Ryne) could start the scene off by approaching the WoL in their room. That would prompt a multiple choice moment where you can greet her, ask what she wants, or ask if she's having trouble sleeping, with Minfilia giving an appropriate response in her own voice. This would prompt visible confusion, and Minfilia would then explain how it is she's controlling the girl's body at the moment. She could then tell the WoL that they have to meet with someone very soon—the WoL can ask who it is, or ask specifically if it's Ardbert. The former choice would prompt her to explain who, while the latter would have her relieved that you've likely already met with him. Either way, she would foreshadow a later event with Ardbert and reassure the WoL that they must stay the course, as the fate of both worlds rests on their shoulders. She would then say that the WoL must have a lot of questions for her—prompting a multiple choice dialogue that leads into her talking about her "reincarnation", while also foreshadowing the Eden raid. And so on, and so forth.
And at the end of all of that, before she departs to return Ryne's body to her room, she apologizes for being unable to keep the promise she made a hundred years ago. Because no matter what Ryne chooses, Minfilia won't be returning to the Source. See: Eden, the Empty, etc.
Oh, and as a final note: If such a scene were to exist, other bits down the line would also need changing. For example, all those moments where we try to talk Ryne out of going to Naabath Araeng would need to have the WoL either accepting her decision or apologizing for its necessity. There would also probably have to be a scene where we explain the encounter to Urianger and/or Thancred, with the former remarking on Minfilia's vigil and the latter realizing what a cad he's been.
Ryne's Reason:
Ryne's actual reason for wanting to meet Minfilia is her own insecurity over her lack of power and inability to pull her own weight. That's a great reason for a character to have, and it leads into some of her best moments in Amh Araeng. The reason she gives everyone, however, is this: She could use the power to identify the Lightwardens' locations. This is, to be frank, immediately undermined by where those Lightwardens actually are.
The first is in Malikah's Well, an abandoned mine in western Amh Araeng. And prior to Minfilia suggesting the above, Alisaie suggests "an abandoned mine in western Amh Araeng" as a possible lead. Now, she doesn't specify which mine, but it seems likely to me that she was talking about Malikah's Well. Y'shtola is quick to shoot this down, of course, as it could "take weeks" to explore it thoroughly. And then we get into Malikah's Well, can see down to the bottom, and there's a bunch of sin eaters there. Sin eaters tend to congregate around Lightwardens—this is brought up in the Qitana Ravel, and in the lead up to Holminster Switch, and so on. And wouldn't you know it, it turned out that the Lightwarden was right down there, behind those sin eaters.
I get that they were trying to amp up the time pressure there. The WoL's soul is breaking down and Eulmore's army is already ahead of us. But if I was Ryne, I'd be feeling kinda silly that the Lightwarden was in the first place we were going to look, and in the most immediately obvious location within that place to boot.
Then there's Vauthry. He lives in a city where sin eaters congregate, making it a prime suspect for the Lightwarden's location. And he can not only control sin eaters, and not only do they flock to him, but he can direct entire armies of them to lay waste to his enemies. And he has a creepy baby face for a nipple. That ain't right.
The Scions and the Exarch know all of this, and even comment on some of it. But apparently, the idea that Vauthry could be a sin eater, let alone a Lightwarden, was just too alien to even consider until Ryne pointed right at him and went "Yep, that's a Lightwarden".
Imagine if this was the only thing Ryne could do with the Oracle's power. No controlling Eden, no cleansing people of meol-induced mind control, and no stopping primordial light from cracking us open from the inside. Just... pointing to the marble white elephant in the room and going "someone really ought to have noticed this before me".
I'll fully admit that this one is just me nitpicking. But picking nits is a fun activity so long as you don't lose your cool over them. It's a moment that fell flat for me in a section that otherwise worked perfectly.
Eden, and On Thin Ice:
I strongly dislike the whole "Summoning Primals for Fun and Profit" bit. One of my favorite bits of storytelling when it comes to primals has always been the leadup to Ravana—Alphinaud not even hesitating to offer up the WoL's services in slaying him, with Estinien reprimanding him for doing so in such a way that it can even give the WoL pause for concern. It's something that the writers carried with him for the rest of the story, even popping up in Shadowbringers from time to time.
And Eden could've used some of that in On Thin Ice. Scrap the "I need to be Shiva or this will never work" bits, because they straight up don't make sense. Scrap the "We just gotta have faith" bits, because Ryne isn't Laguna goddamn Loire and really should be smarter than that. Scrap the bit where the WoL immediately agrees to the plan, and instead give us a multiple choice bit where we have to pick all the choices.
1. You need the Echo in order to control a primal. Does Ryne have the Echo? (Whether or not she does have it doesn't actually matter—she can think she does either way. What's important is that the question is asked.)
2. If Shiva takes control and subverts her will, she runs the risk of being tempered. (Being the Oracle of Light, she ought to be immune to this, but again: It should be brought up, as the entire reason the WoL is the one fighting these primals instead of anyone else is due to the risk of tempering.)
3. (Only available after the above two have been selected.) The WoL is already risking their own life in fighting these primals, and doesn't think Ryne should have to do the same if she doesn't need to.
That last one should then lead to Ryne giving two, and only two, reasons for wanting to become Shiva: Having realized that it's something she can actually do, she wants to try and use it to teach Eden. That answer is already given in-game, of course. The second is only implied post-fight, however, and should instead be made explicit in pre-fight dialogue: She doesn't want the WoL to have to keep risking their life for her benefit. If she can control Shiva, then at the very least she can serve up an easy victory, if there even needs to be a fight at all.
... and then everything can go horribly wrong as usual, but at least Ryne would look like the absolute sweetheart she is instead of a bullheaded idiot.
There's also the matter of how, despite absolutely everything going wrong, the end result was a flawless happy ending. The elements are all in perfect balance, and Ryne definitely learned a valuable lesson or five from the experience. Thancred and Urianger part on good terms with the girls, and everything is obviously going to be fine (ominous thoughts from Gaia aside).
... I can't be the only one who thought that ending was too perfect for its own good. And I know why it is: Because if Ryne screwing everything up actually resulted in immediate consequences, then Thancred and Urianger would look like they're abandoning her in her time of need. There has to be a happy ending now, and any consequences must, by necessity, be deferred to the final wing. I just hope whoever is writing the Eden raid realized that, and wasn't just writing a happy ending for the sake of it.
Oh, and as a final bit: I absolutely hate that bit where Urianger declares that Eden is the first Sin Eater, was the real source of the Flood of Light, and that Minfilia fought it 100 years ago. Why? Because absolutely no mention of that came up during Shadowbringers proper, and so it comes off as the writers trying to make Urianger look smart when he's just pulling it all out of his firm behind. Y'know what would fix that? Actually foreshadowing it beforehand. And hey, that Minfilia scene I suggested above does all of those things.
Ardbert:
Really not much to say about it. I found it creepy when, post-fusion, we suddenly spoke with his voice. I was hoping that was the last of it, that his spirit moved on and his soul bits become our soul bits. But then 5.3 suddenly decided he needs to say something dramatic during our showdown with Elidibus, and he has to have his emotional sendoff with Seto.
The latter, I can headcanon as the WoL just playing pretend while telling Seto what Ardbert wanted to tell him before he died. 'cause that's a nice thing to do, and it's something we could probably pull off. But I can't for the life of me puzzle out what I'm supposed to make of Ardbert... sorry, "Voice from Within"... is doing in our showdown against Elidibus. There is absolutely such a thing as overstaying one's welcome, and if Ardbert is going to keep popping up like this, then he should just pop out altogether and get on with his life.
I mean, y'know how we didn't get to see Ryne and Thancred's farewell to Minfilia when we did our rounds post-Trial? Imagine if we did get to see that scene, and it was Ryne turning herself into Minfilia to say her goodbyes to Thancred. That's what these Ardbert moments are like for me.
Heroes' Gauntlet:
Not much to say about this one either. They absolutely could have come up with a good excuse as to why we can't just teleport there. And before anyone asks, no, Thancred not being able to use aether isn't a good excuse. He can sit in the Grand Dame's Parlor sipping a smoothie for a few minutes while the rest of the Scions teleport to the Crystarium and shank Elidibus.
Originally Posted by Ildefons
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