Ardbert's Party vs the Scions Analysis

[Rulakir]

The only Scions I actually dislike are Urianger and Krile. Urianger because I don't deal with duplicity and I'm annoyed that my WoL has forgiven him for it not once, but twice and with the addition of him almost doing it a third time in EW. (Can I please be done with this man?) Krile because she's just Mini-filia now and Minfilia is probably my most hated character next to Venat.

The Scions I love are G'raha (sorry :P) and Thancred (when he's not up Minfilia's backside). I like Estinien, but I hated him being turned into comic relief. I also think if we're going to stay character consistent it doesn't make sense for him to continue to hang with the Scions.

I'm just tired of Alphinaud and Y'shtola. I would like an extended break from both or at least the option to choose which Scions accompany me so I can leave them benched indefinitely.

Alisaie is somewhere in the middle. I like her as my 'ride or die' BFF, but I rapidly start losing interest when she takes up a cause (Halric, Ga Bu, apparently Garlemald now).

As far as actually heartbreaking characters though (or even ones who've had to deal with a lot of suffering and despair), most of the Scions wouldn't even make my top 10 despite them supposedly having gone through so much.

[Brinne]

If there was a topic or active discussion regarding "how we felt about the Scions [in EW or otherwise]," it would probably be interesting - and my personal critiques would possibly stack to the moon. Discussing media like this, I've felt for a long time, and have said so in context of other works, that all one can do is speak for oneself and elaborate on the reasoning behind why one feels that way. That has value for both myself as someone trying to work out my own thought processes (and where my subjective biases lie, and how my brain works) and try to make sure I'm reading carefully - and for other people, in that it can hopefully clarify their own perspective for them in some way or another. This might be through persuasion, or continued conversation, or even simply making it clear to a different person "yeah, I don't agree with this at all." Ideally, growth and insight all around! One of the best outcomes for fiction in terms of audience response!

I include, potentially, the writers in terms of "hopefully my expressing my personal thoughts and responses clarifies things for other people, too." As far as things I really can't stand, such as Venat and how she was handled, my (faint) hope has always been: I hope that if I point out what the writers did in terms of what they produced and the aspects of it I found painful and repulsive, it means something to them and they might say "no, now that you point this out, we didn't want to do that, actually." There's no "you better listen to me or else" ultimatum I can reasonably offer beyond, like, my own monthly charge of fifteen dollars. Trying to do otherwise is empty posturing and really obvious attempted rhetorical sleight of hand. It's entirely in SE's hands to take my small piece of feedback in aggregate with everyone else's and make decisions based on where opinions as a whole are trending.

If you truly want to have a discussion centered around "the fanbase feels like this" or "most people feel like this", or speculating on future developments based on general fan response, that's an entirely different conversation and one that necessarily asks for a reference to data. And most of the "data" we have available puts forth that the majority of the Scions - Alphinaud, Alisaie, G'raha, Estinien, probably even Urianger - are well liked. Thancred and Y'shtola don't do as well as the others, for better or worse.

[SannaR]

The Burger Hate. Just, Omg the Burger Hate.
The hatred of a character eating a Hamburger is the Funniest thing ever on these Forums.

Yeah they act like the Scions let alone Sharlyean only eat cheeseburgers and coffee. When what we see at that meal in the WoL's room isn't even all that the Last Stand serves. When your country's biggest contribution to food is a fish loaf. And it's also known to be the most tasteless food out there it'd be odd to have the opposite be thought of as going to BK everyday. The WoL is shown eating two soups/stews one in ShB one in SB, the spread that included the sandwiches in ShB, anf the meal with Aymeric up to that point. And a few drinks shared before the attack on Doma with Hien and Gosetsu. So it's not like we're always buying a dozen of Krispy Kream doughnuts and inhaling them down.

[Striker44]

The Burger Hate. Just, Omg the Burger Hate.

I'm getting vibes of the attorney dwelling on muffins during the Depp/Heard case with this one...

I overall felt characters were better handled back in HW, which was coincidentally the last time there were consequences for anyone not an antagonist.

So, Arenvald getting crippled and ending up in a wheelchair during the ShB --> EW transition is just my imagination? Meffrid and Conrad didn't get killed in the Ala Mhigo part of SB? Plenty of non-antagonists have faced serious consequences throughout the series.

[Kaurhz]

That cheeseburger is important, OK?!?!?

It's a matter of principle, OK?!?!?

Never mind, I can't... I just can't... - As an aside, I'm pretty sure the scene in question was to showcase what impact our emotions have on dynamis, or more importantly the flower than anything else.

[Rulakir]

Thancred and Y'shtola don't do as well as the others, for better or worse.

Thancred needs his mojo back. I'm disappointed he's been paired off with Urianger now (*sigh*). I've felt since the end of HW that the writers have no idea what to do with him. Also, the #1 surefire way for him to skyrocket up the polls is to start flirting with the WoL (again :P).

I got nothing for Y'shtola. It's strange that she doesn't poll as well, but is still one of the main faces of the game.

Regardless, I'd still like to get out there and meet new characters and have new party members. I seem to recall Yoshi-P having to clarify that at the end of 6.0 the WoL wasn't going to be left alone in a strange land because he was making the "new adventure" sound like that's what was going to happen, so I was shocked that nothing even remotely close to that ended up happening and everything just went back to 'normal'.

[Brinne]

Thancred needs his mojo back. I'm disappointed he's been paired off with Urianger now (*sigh*). I've felt since the end of HW that the writers have no idea what to do with him. Also, the #1 surefire way for him to skyrocket up the polls is to start flirting with the WoL (again :P).

I got nothing for Y'shtola. It's strange that she doesn't poll as well, but is still one of the main faces of the game.

Regardless, I'd still like to get out there and meet new characters and have new party members. I seem to recall Yoshi-P having to clarify that at the end of 6.0 the WoL wasn't going to be left alone in a strange land because he was making the "new adventure" sound like that's what was going to happen, so I was shocked that nothing even remotely close to that ended up happening and everything just went back to 'normal'.

LOL, I'm one of those who only started liking Thancred because of his Shadowbringers arc, and really enjoy his partnership with Urianger, so honestly, seeing him still so low after those arcs is a bit of a bummer for me, but it is what it is. I'm not going to start making weird conspiracy theories about how no, actually everyone secretly loves Thancred after Shadowbringers and your opinion is invalid because Reasons, Rulakir.

I'd guess Y'shtola is probably weird inertia, since the decision to make her the poster girl for crossovers came a long time ago - I think when ARR was still the most current content. Whoops! Should have been the twins! I wouldn't be surprised if she was the most popular Scion back in that era - sort of like Gaius was the closest thing to a breakout character back in 1.0, but he's basically not even a blip on the observable popularity radar these days.

[Lauront]

I enjoyed Y'shtola's growing scepticism of the narrative they'd been fed by Hydaelyn up to that point. I was sorely disappointed in her not only jettisoning that but then doing a 180 when confronted with Hydaelyn's rather tepid apology. So the one narrative arc I had enjoyed seeing nurtured in her was completely withered away by the end of EW. It was about as jarring as Thancred's rather meek response to what the fate of the shards would be. Thancred is a Scion I've enjoyed in the past but he feels like an utterly spent force at this stage. I also did not care for how 6.1 handled Y'shtola. Alisaie funnily enough I would say I am lukewarm towards, as she seemed to grasp Emet's plight on a similarly visceral level, and kept that understanding in mind - up until SHB she was a character I'd just considered shrill and annoying. As to the rest? It's mainly varying sentiments ranging from indifference to loathing, depending on scene and character. I've posted in the past what I'd like to see of a main cast going forward, on the assumption that the game does go in the more single player friendly direction. At the moment, there just isn't enough in the Scions for me to have much confidence I'll enjoy what's coming in the future, and that's separate to other issues I have with the story. I'll just add that I also found Ardbert to be a very endearing character, and one I've come to like more than the usual group of companions.

[Rulakir]

I'll be frank, if Thancred and Minfilia had been lovers I might've been more on board because it'd be a tragic love story and I'm a sucker for those. It's that they have this weird, sort of never quite appropriately explained (in EN) familial relationship (that still awkwardly reads as unrequited love from him) that makes it so strange to me. Not to mention that Minfilia already gave her heart to Hydaelyn. :P

HW Thancred is still my favorite, especially him punching the youngest Fortemps whose name I cannot spell!

[tokinokanatae]

I'm glad that through rigorous discussion, we have actually come to the conclusion that all the Scions are more or less fine--except Y'shtola. Clearly getting rid of her will solve any issues with the group. (I definitely have not come to this totally logical and justified decision because Y'shtola is my least favorite Scion.)