Critique of Endwalker Characters

[Rulakir]

Imo I don't mind Gra'ha so much.
But I also didn't like how the game treated him as if I as the player thought he was the best thing ever.

This is how I feel about Haurchefant. The WoL has never reacted as dramatically to anything else in the game as his death. Not trying to say he wasn't a good character or that wasn't an emotional moment, but it's always been odd to me that my character was disproportionately torn up about him. There were also several dialog options referencing him that no other character has had and his demise keeps being rehashed, indefinitely it seems. I feel like my WoL had a love affair with him off screen that I wasn't aware about or something. :P

I love G'raha though. I sympathize with the people who don't, I would hate to have a character I disliked thrust upon me the way G'raha is. It's too bad the game doesn't have a favor system or at least allow you to pick your traveling companions, although, I know that would involve a lot of extra dialog (like the inn scene in EW).

Reminds me of when people tried to sell me Zenos as a mirror or foil to the WoL, to me he's just a boring psycho. Villains like him and Hermes need to not resurface again.

Ever since someone compared Zenos to Vegeta from DBZ I've been thinking, darn, he had possibilities! I would love a Vegeta type in game even if it's not him.

I think people will hate any main cast. Even the new 7.0 main cast will be hated. It's a battle that no TV show, movie, video game or story will ever win. It's simply the way it is.

The Golden Girls. :P Interestingly, it's because they were all so different and played well off of each other, something the Scions don't have. They've always been friends, always get along, always agree with each other (what few differences they have don't amount to much). The fact that they're all Archons or from Sharlayan like the twins doesn't help either, aside from who they were before then there's not even much diversity in their backgrounds. The main cast needs some spice.

[Remish]

The Golden Girls. :P Interestingly, it's because they were all so different and played well off of each other, something the Scions don't have. They've always been friends, always get along, always agree with each other (what few differences they have don't amount to much). The fact that they're all Archons or from Sharlayan like the twins doesn't help either, aside from who they were before then there's not even much diversity in their backgrounds. The main cast needs some spice.

I think if you looked in the right places, you'd find some people probably don't like the Golden Girls either. A lot of people don't even know that a lot of people dislike Endwalker that much until they visit these forums. I don't think there is anything anywhere that has a 100% approval rating because this assumes everyone will like it. Businesses will listen to the majority, not the loud unsatisfied minority regardless of their criticism. That's not to say that the criticism isn't validated. But money talks more. You need to speak with your wallet.

[Rilifane]

Ever since someone compared Zenos to Vegeta from DBZ I've been thinking, darn, he had possibilities! I would love a Vegeta type in game even if it's not him.

I believe we sort of had that chance with Gaius but he was unfortunately wasted on an optional side quest and we never saw him again. Oh, well...
- one of our arch enemies since 1.0 and early ARR
- acknowledged and respected our strength and wanted to have us on his side but entirely willing to kill us if we refuse
- a damn good veteran fighter with a lot of precious inside knowledge about Garlemald
- forged his own path after his almost fatal failure and learning the truth about the Empire without doing a 180 and holding fast to some things ("I'm still a son of Garlemald")

The potential for interesting encounters with varios NPCs was immense. It was crystal clear that our path would lead us to Garlemald and he had the most inside knowedge, much more than Nero, Cid or Lucia and Maxima lacked the military background as he was more of a diplomat/ politician.
But since it was only an optional side quest they couldn't do too much with him, his screentime was limited and they had to "get over with it" so they couldn't really add a story that slowly went from open animosity between former enemies over grudging acceptance to have need of each other's skill and knowledge to something like a difficult but still working alliance or even a mutual understanding and respect. The whole "Alright, let's work together!" went over too fast when it could've been made into a story not unlike Estinien's albeit with a former enemy instead of a vengeful ally.
He was a conquerer, he waged wars, strongly believed might gave the right to rule and killed but he also gave a Roe a pretty high rank, was strongly aganist the abuse of non-Garleans, went against the Empire by helping to stop Meteor as well as other needlessly brutal or cowardly methods like Black Rose and took in orphans, ill-fated as their story turned out to be, tried to be a sort of father for Cid and wanted to do better after his failure in Prae.
He admitted to many mistakes and openly acknowledged them in front of others but he also never cowered or denied who and what he was and still is and that some part of him will always be loyal to the Emporer.

Edit: Oh, and while we're at it: Regula. That one would've also made for an interesting character of the same category if only they had allowed him to live.