Ardbert's Party vs the Scions Analysis

[Rulakir]

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.

Same! The only one I liked was Thancred and that's because of the scene after Ifrit where he said he should've been there for us. <3 Unfortunately, whether you would've joined the Scions was yet another dialog option in EW with only positive responses. I absolutely would not have in ARR, that's for sure.

Also, uh, is now an awkward time to mention my block list? >_>

And again, to be fair, what Rulakir said is that it probably would have worked better for her if it had been a lover's relationship due to her personal taste

Thank you, context matters!

I also miss flirty Thancred.

[Juyira]

My posts were to TC, not Rulakir.

[Brinne]

My posts were to TC, not Rulakir.

Oh, okay. Yeah, in the game as a whole, by the end of Shadowbringers, things were made pretty crystal clear in terms of intent. Yoshida's "you must explicitly have Thancred call Minfilia his little sister" line when confronting Ranjit was missing in the English script, IIRC, but it was still basically clear by then, I think.

[SannaR]

I when I got to the Krile Thancred bit also didn't clue into that it was a father daughter relationship. Course I had up til meeting the Word of the mother that they were Exes. Who had chosen to stay friends and keep it professional. While Thancred felt like he always never got the right moment to say something to her. When the Krile bit happened I thought that Krile thought it was still on going. During the meeting with the Word of the mother was when I went hmm maybe brother sister or Father daughter. Not til I read the short story did it hit me. I still remember all the people on social media that made "I'm not sure why the devs had to point it out. It was super obvious." type remarks belittle people who did go oh.. Oh... wow after having read the side story. As his reactions to Ryne and still missing Minfillia could have been the same as one to really close friends.

I probably would have clued into how the relationship was if I hadn't been distracted the first time I got to the two scenes I mentioned. First time I had other people distracting me and the 2nd time I had pressure to get back to current at the time.

[Striker44]

Agreed, the main point is that the scions are still a cast with several issues in their writing that should be addressed.

Except this isn't a "point." It's an opinion. One generally not shared by the wider playerbase, which far and away is enjoying the Scions and how they're written. It's okay to have opinions. It's not helpful to claim said opinions as "right" or factual when reality says otherwise.

[Tama-Kanzashi]

Except this isn't a "point." It's an opinion. One generally not shared by the wider playerbase, which far and away is enjoying the Scions and how they're written. It's okay to have opinions. It's not helpful to claim said opinions as "right" or factual when reality says otherwise.

Except you are doing the same thing and stating your "the wider playerbase likes them" as a fact and not just an opinion. Adhere to your own rules please since you cannot prove your claims.

The Scions at this point are a vehicle for marketing, faces you can easily recognize in the game and which will rope in newer players with a feeling of familiarity when they see them in the game.
It's a calculated approach. But by having so many of them and establishing them as their faces for marketing from early on, they maneuvered themselves into a situation where they get reluctant to remove any of them and have a bloated cast of "unkillables."

So there is no point in yelling about "majorities" when the Scions were engineered to rope in new players. It's often not even a genuine love for the Scions, it's a love for a stable environment with familiar faces and little change. A situation with low uncertainty.

[VelKallor]

That still doesn’t justify why they were eating burgers of all things

Ties into the CUL storyline at the studium about the food in Sharlayan, which ties into the Last Stand. You didnt do those, did you?

And yeah, pardon the pun, but whats your beef with hamburgers?

[VelKallor]

I also miss flirty Thancred.

Time, battle, loss...he grew up. He isnt young anymore...he has changed.

War, grief, have a tendency to do that.

[Theodric]

Time, battle, loss...he grew up. He isnt young anymore...he has changed.

War, grief, have a tendency to do that.

Not necessarily. If anything, people who experience heavy loss and tragedy are likely to embrace such distractions. A lot of people working in the emergency services, or who have come back from the front lines also tend to lean into dark humour as a coping mechanism.

I survived an attempted murder. Fought off my attacker and got stabbed in the process. I joke about it with friends and family. Not everybody reacts the same way but it sure would be nice for the game to do more to make the Scions seem like actual characters who react like normal humans instead of being stoic and muted in their reactions to what is going on around them at any given time.

Either way, the 'flirty rogue' is a popular trope for good reason. If Thancred isn't going to fulfil that niche these days then it seems like a good idea to bring in someone else who will.

[Iscah]

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.

A burger is, ultimately, a meat-and-salad roll – not a really shocking and modern (or inherently unhealthy) thing even if it does feel a little jarring. But it does logically seem like the sort of thing that would cater well to students and teachers wanting a quick meal they can pick up and eat on the way to class. Also, if the whole point of Archon loaf is to stuff all your food groups into a single portable meal, then a burger achieves much the same thing while actually being edible.

I don't remember the rest of the food but they had a pretty big spread of things across the table, and again when we had dinner with the older Scions.