Ardbert's Party vs the Scions Analysis

[aveyond-dreams]

I do not believe that trying to compete in this thread regarding who had the worse time during Covid or other similarly harrowing situations is a productive direction for this discussion. The simple fact of the matter is that in this story that spoke at length about the ordeals one needs to pass to grow resilient enough to overcome despair, the Scions are quite privileged and suffered little to no losses when compared to Ardbert's group and many of the game's side characters.

In the context of the story and setting real life aside, the message falls flat in the way that it is delivered. Again, look back to Lamitt. She sacrificed everything for the greater good and was still shunned by her own people for it. Alphinaud in comparison had no such consequences for his "rebellion" of sorts because his mother was there every step of the way supporting him and his father eventually relented as well. This may be good for "feels" but it really isn't the kind of resolution I was expecting, as his father had the capacity to be a far more compelling antagonistic figure.

If I have to ask myself whose story I am more interested in following, hers or his, I'm choosing Lamitt's. Another Final Fantasy character who was quite the mama's boy was Hope from FFXIII - and the loss of his mother coupled with his estranged relationship with his father at the very least gave him a more thrilling character arc that incorporated revenge and the need to grow stronger in a more effective manner than Alphinaud's writing. I will never understand the aversion some players seem to have for higher tension and stakes in the main story.

If you want a game where nothing bad happens, there are plenty of other options to choose from outside the Final Fantasy series. Final Fantasy games should provide some level of emotional ups and downs that are grounded by permanent consequences instead of handwaving away problems for the main party like we saw happen in Endwalker. Up until recently, I would have gladly recommended FFXIV to adults my age but after Endwalker I struggle to find a good reason to do so, because the game increasingly appears to disregard the age of its playerbase from both a gameplay and story perspective by continually wearing down both aspects.