What's the point with that quite lackluster story in Endwalker?

[aveyond-dreams]

I suppose we'll have to see who the 'new' character is as well, since supposedly we're meant to be getting one. I did spy what looks to be Riol in the trailer and I don't dislike him but I'll laugh if the 'new' character simply amounts to a secondary Scion being promoted to the main cast.

In general I'd like to see more characters who have zero ties to either the Scions or the Students of Baldesion. We've had a decade of both already, so it really is time for the safety blanket to be removed.

I'd personally like to see a cocky treasure hunter if we're pursuing the 'adventurer' angle. There's no need for every single character we work with to be entirely selfless after all. We're also in dire need of some unapologetically brash men to balance out the 'sassy' women like Alisae and Y'shtola.

My preference for the main party moving forward is still for characters that serve as successors to the trio of Ancients, but overall what we need most is contrast and the balancing you mention.

Locke from FFVI and Zidane from FFIX as rogues/treasure hunters/thieves provided good entertainment when they were on screen, and would certainly fit the niche that Thancred left vacant. When it comes to sassy women, they work best when they have someone to bounce off and challenge, but there isn't anyone in the main party for Alisae to bicker with besides Alphinaud, once, in Il Mheg when she grabbed him by the collar.

To be honest though, the sass by now is just too annoying and stale. I miss when girl characters were allowed to be ditzy and silly, like some of Vanille's mannerisms from FFXIII or how interactions between Sarah and Garland went down with their completely different personalities. I even miss when Rikku practically opened FFX-2 with the word "disasterific." Traditional heroines in the way of Yuna or Terra seem largely absent. This is partly due to there being a strong aversion towards showing female cast members in vulnerable moments in FFXIV which would be critical for such characters to grow in meaningful ways. Yet it is perfectly fine to get long drawn out emotional cutscenes with G'raha Tia. For some reason.

I'd like to see a snarky mage type like Emet or even Kuja, so that we do not rely on antagonists alone for any fun theatrics. It does suck that the muscle of our party, Estinien and Thancred, have so much less going on for them right now and Estinien feels so toned down without the revenge plot driving his actions forward. I suppose they could draw inspiration from the likes of Auron, a warrior with a decent bit of mystery to him, or more light-hearted types like Steiner. Gladiolus is probably one of the better examples, protective and straightforward as he was, along with being unafraid to clash with the main protagonist.

This game is in serious danger of having forever characters like WoW has, which I understand has only barely gotten rid of Sylvanas.