Quote Originally Posted by WanderingMist View Post
I'm talking about what we know of them at the end of the base ARR storyline, which is a large chunk of the game. Still, if you think I've sold those characters short, then please, give me some unique character traits of Y'shtola or Alphinaud.
That's why I mentioned you being overleveled. Otherwise, at the point where I assume you are (HW patches or starting SB), the characters are more fleshed out than they were in ARR. Besides, their story ends with Endwalker, you can't judge their characterization on the base game alone.

Even if we consider only ARR.

Alphinaud and Y'shtola are both Sharlayan, Y'shtola being one of the Archons who stayed behind when they evacuated the city-state which became Idyllshire right before the calamity. And she's already the sassy expert in aetherology we see later on. If you play SMN, you even learn that she has a sister.

If you run the Coils, you learn more about Louisoix and his relationship with both Alphinaud and Alisaie. In the MSQ, you see Alphinaud as a spoiled lordling, extremely naive, with grand ideals and plans of unification for Eorzea, which all lead us to the Crystal Braves debacle.

So yes, I do believe you were a tiny bit unfair in your assessment.