Ardbert's Party vs the Scions Analysis

[Brinne]

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.)

Delete Y'shtola, replace with Fordola, SE's stocks will rise through the roof. Trust me on this one, SE. I will accept my consultant's check and/or my seat on the board of directors anytime. <_<

[MikkoAkure]

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

It was played out in the story of 1.0 and it had a few mentions in ARR that Thancred sort of became an adoptive parental figure after her real dad died in the old Ul’dah intro and left her orphaned and he felt guilty about it, along with F’lhaminn, who had a much more direct involvement in his death. Minfilia was 12 at the time and he was 17 so he doesn’t really see her as anything other than a kid with a sad story who needs protection.

They could have mentioned it a bit more but it’s not like it was absent in the English translation.


As far as Y’shtola, I’m pretty convinced she’s Yoshi-P’s favorite and he feels the need to keep her as a lofty, unreadable, mysterious figure but it ends up making the character feel flat and I think she needs more nixie moments to humanize her more.

It was worse in 1.0 when she would randomly show up in cutscenes with unexplainable powers like matrix-style bullet stopping with her mind and suddenly showing up with multiple clones of herself talking to you before they all disappear after she’s done with exposition. She also knew when we were having an Echo vision and in one of the very few CGI scenes of 1.0 she sent us back to our own time period when a tsunami was about to hit and somehow mysteriously survived it.

[Theodric]

Another reason for me to be glad I never deigned to try 1.0, I suppose...

[Juyira]

I don't log onto the forums very often, but when I do the one constant is TC's constant making things up and then getting mad about them and also the hatred towards the burger scene. It always happens without fail.


It's real good for a laugh at least.

[Kaurhz]

I don't log onto the forums very often, but when I do the one constant is TC's constant making things up and then getting mad about them and also the hatred towards the burger scene. It always happens without fail.


It's real good for a laugh at least.

Just you wait, the only thing missing now is the complementary response -- But... But... What about the Loporrits.

[DPZ2]

It's that they have this weird, sort of never quite appropriately explained (in EN) familial relationship

So, you've never mourned the death of a child that you watched grow up over the years. One with whom you are pretty much a father/big brother figure? I get it.

[Brinne]

So, you've never mourned the death of a child that you watched grow up over the years. One with whom you are pretty much a father/big brother figure? I get it.

In fairness to Rulakir, the objection here isn't the situation itself, it's "never quite appropriately explained," which I'd actually agree with her on. As much as I repeat "EW mishandled the Scions," I'd still take that version of them over the ARR version, where I did, in fact, actively dislike the vast majority of them and was very happy when they all got booted offscreen all at once. Minfilia being the lynchpin of Thancred's development and their precise background is something ARR whiffed hard on explaining, let alone explaining in a compelling way, to people, and that HW only sort of clarified, until Shadowbringers, as far as the MSQ is concerned.

ARR was sloppy in sort of assuming people would like the Scions and know their history based on 1.0, which was a pretty irresponsible thing to figure since they should have fully known - were actively gunning for - that there would be a ton of new players coming in without that context. It's not the premise here that's iffy, it was the execution - to the extent that Yoshida felt the need to directly intervene in Shadowbringers's script to make sure there was a line in JP clarifying that Minfilia was Thancred's "little sister," so there wouldn't be "misunderstandings" about their relationship.

[Theodric]

I don't think it's particularly appropriate to try and use potential real world personal losses/trauma as an attempted 'gotcha' moment. Especially not in the defence of...pixels on a screen in a video game of all things. Pretty creepy, actually!

[aveyond-dreams]

I don't think it's particularly appropriate to try and use potential real world personal losses/trauma as an attempted 'gotcha' moment. Especially not in the defence of...pixels on a screen in a video game of all things. Pretty creepy, actually!

Agreed, the main point is that the scions are still a cast with several issues in their writing that should be addressed. If not, then it would be more beneficial to replace them with sufficiently fleshed out characters. 10 years of them is a decently long run, and 10 more that still relies on the emotional weight of events that happened a decade ago won't make for a good reception from the playerbase outside their fans.

[DPZ2]

I don't think it's particularly appropriate to try and use potential real world personal losses/trauma as an attempted 'gotcha' moment. Especially not in the defence of...pixels on a screen in a video game of all things. Pretty creepy, actually!

It was a reflection about the true relationship between the two characters, which is plain enough that even the Wikis out there use the term 'sister' for Minfilia's relationship to Thancred. The inability to recognize that relationship (and even the statement about 'tragic lovers') was enough cause for the post.