Ardbert's Party vs the Scions Analysis

[aveyond-dreams]

A lot of people forget that Tidus comes back after the credits in FFX. You don't need to wait until FFX-2 and get 100% completion, you just need to wait 5 minutes. FFX ends, credits roll, and then the "sacrifice" is immediately undone and Tidus wakes up in the ocean, and the cutscene is just continued in FFX-2.


As far as FFXII goes, even though that's my favorite in the series, I will admit it doesn't exactly have memorable characters outside the main 6 and I've yet to meet anyone who actually likes Vaan and Penelo. But if we're counting the deaths of guest characters, XIV has Ysayle, who definitely counts. FFXII also has a fake-out death at the very end with Fran and Balthier


But for the upteenth time, FFXIV doesn't need deaths of the main party in order to make a compelling story. While there are Final Fantasy games that have killed main characters, there are many that haven't. It goes both ways. It can be your personal opinion that you think it could make it better but it's still popular and I don't think killing someone is going to suddenly make it skyrocket in the eyes of current or potential players.

Besides, out of the most popular characters in the game, the most popular, Emet-Selch, was killed by our own hand and number 3 also died, Venat, who helped us throughout the whole entire game and is the first voice we hear and the singer of multiple songs in the game. It's not like there isn't death close to home but people keep laser focusing on the Scions for some reason. Considering there's a whole game mechanic that spans two expansions where you can raise their levels and switch between pre-set outfits, I don't think they're going anywhere because they're built into the game now. Had Trust operated differently between both expansions instead of carrying over, I would agree that they're not safe, but I don't see that anymore.

Ysayle = 2015. We are in the year 2022.

Fran and Balthier provided sufficient entertainment to warrant their survival, and as others have stated FFXII had numerous character deaths of figures important to the plot. This is why something like this is accepted in FFXII but frowned upon when FFXIV does something like Ultima Thule.

And to quote myself =

As I've also said before, if you are doing something meaningful with your cast members then there isn't a need to retire or kill them off. If you're not, then it is preferable for characters who have fulfilled their purpose to exit the stage so that others can have a chance to shine. Do you agree?

We focus on the Scions because they are quite literally our main party. I expect more to be done with these specific characters than what is currently happening. Meaningful consequences. Critical decisions. Sacrifices that aren't waved away with magic gizmos.

At this point despite my love of the Trust system I would rather see it scrapped in favor of Duty Support only dungeons if it means we can get some more variation and comings/goings in the cast.

As a final note, the scene you have cited in FFX's ending does not in fact end with Tidus resurfacing on Besaid. He is in the ocean and the scene ends just before he emerges. Anyone can interpret this scene various different ways but it wouldn't be inaccurate to interpret it as him moving on to the afterlife somehow.