Quote Originally Posted by WanderingMist View Post
I'll grant you, some of those lines do bring out Thancred's character. It's a shame that they are forgotten amidst the sea of exposition. Y'shtola being able to teleport freely doesn't mean too much when the player can do it freely and the significance of it is buried amidst (you guessed it) more exposition.
But she isn't able to teleport freely is the point. She has such finetuned control over the small amount of aether that she can manipulate safely, that she was able to teleport herself and Thancred out of harms way - which lead to her near death. This just proves to me that you weren't paying nearly as much attention as you say you were. You are the ONLY OTHER PERSON able to teleport at will, and for you it's a piece of cake because of the sheer amount of aether in your possession. The game literally both tells you, and SHOWS you, this.

You're so obsessed with "show don't tell" that I think you've forgotten what that actually means. Exposition is necessary in certain circumstances, yet we are SHOWN Thancred's wit and personality, no one sits there saying "Yeah Thancred's a flirt!" We see and experience it. We are SHOWN Y'shtola's quick thinking under pressure, her sass, and her willingness to stand her ground. No one says that. We are SHOWN Yda and Papalymo's undying friendship and loyalty to each other in the face of uncertain futures. We are SHOWN Alphinaud's uncertainty and his naivety. We are shown that the Scions of the Seventh Dawn are a group filled with intelligent people, and ALSO told that.

Show, don't tell, doesn't mean characters can't talk. Show, don't tell means "Don't just say this character is quick witted. Show them BEING quick witted." Which is what the game does.

Thancred is a flirt - he flirts. Y'shtola is smart and able to finetunely control aether - she does JUST THAT. Alphinaud is naive - he literally gathers together a group of Sellswords and doesn't expect them to still be sellswords. Yda and Papalymo are friends to the literal end - these aren't things the game tells us, these are things you're SHOWN.