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[aveyond-dreams]

This is literally how the Warrior of Light operates. We make a career out of going around and sticking our noses into things and helping people we come across. Sometimes breaking things on accident and then having to fix them. G'raha's motivations are he wants to travel along with his hero. Neither are that deep. But we get a pass?

Given that the WoL is a self-insert/MMORPG player character, yeah that kind of works. This is why other characters need to pick up the slack and have goals and interesting things going on that make us want to help them and hang out with them. On a per-expansion basis. No standing around doing little to nothing outside 1-2 scenes. If G'raha is there just because he wants to hang out with us and Krile joins in because she's going to be Y'shtola 2.0, then I have to question the logic behind such choices and ask for something better.

[Midareyukki]

This is literally how the Warrior of Light operates. We make a career out of going around and sticking our noses into things and helping people we come across. Sometimes breaking things on accident and then having to fix them. G'raha's motivations are he wants to travel along with his hero. Neither are that deep. But we get a pass?

It's what happens when we're the generic "silent" protagonist. We didn't have much to express ourselves by, we were simply given the title of Adventurer and got told to start adventuring. It's not so much a pass, but more a consequence to how much of a Tabula Rasa we are; we're nothing more than a template for the player to project stuff onto, be it background, appearance, motivation, etcetera. After that, the devs sprinkle in some stuff to make sure you follow the intended script.

We don't control G'raha nor project anything onto him directly, so he gets to have whatever motivation the writers decide he should have. He's not a clean slate, he's not a canvas. He's an NPC with established lore, motivation, reasoning, blah blah blah blah blah...

And because G'raha isn't meant to be a clean slate, it means we can then scrutinize whether or not his motivations and personality and blah are valid or not. Because he's not there to be Ken Doll/Barbie Doll, he's meant to be G'raha Tia. And while we can make whatever we want out of Harun Asubra or Thalia Beckford, G'raha Tia is something presented to us that is meant to be "complete".

I'd argue that "shallow" motivations (this word feels harsh... I don't think this is what we'd use to say "motivations that aren't deep") don't necessarily mean that the character sucks. The character can still be simple and be entertaining... But that's subjective. Whether or not he and everything about him that aren't deep make sense is up to what people expect from their characters and the style of storytelling.

If you think your story should have deep characters in the main roster, then G'raha might appear "shallow" for you.
If you think the main roster of a story needs to have endearing characters and not need to focus on making everyone be complex for the sake of "being in the main roster", then G'raha might come as a breath of fresh air: someone simple who can be expanded when required, but for the most part is easy to understand and likeable nonetheless.

[Boblawblah]

so, what characters do you think SHOULD be part of the team?

[TaleraRistain]

I do believe I remember Yoshi P making a big deal about a major character's death 5.3 just for Graha to get a get out of death loophole because the community can't handle character deaths. But again, none of the heroes can die or be challenged in this game since HW, so that's not surprising

Do you remember the 3.3 trailer where Aymeric is carrying Estinien? The developers like to troll us. And I'm not sure why you think this sort of thing is new because 3.3 was the end of the very expansion you're referring to that apparently was the only one to allow people to die. By not having him die.

[TaleraRistain]

- A male Roegadyn marine who fights as a scholar using advanced military arts, with a grand and rough around the edges personality who enjoys drinking and gambling. With a dominant and unyielding demeanor, he puts individuals like Y'shtola in their rightful place when they begin to act out of turn or unjustly haughty.

- A female Au Ra shamaness from the far east who is deeply devoted to her religious practices and is torn between her love of her people and the world beyond the Ruby Sea. Seeing the world with fresh eyes, she forms a deep connection with the people she encounters and tries to be friendly, mediating between any rivalries between the party.

- A female Hrothgar priestess who was sent forth from her temple to assist the party, following the fate foretold to her by the stars in order to safeguard her people's future. Despite knowing that she may have to perform the ultimate sacrifice, she marches forward toward her fate with unflinching conviction, with her truest feelings being those of deep affection for her travelling companions.

- A male Viera necromancer who pursues the dark arts in an attempt to bring back the loved ones he has lost to war, plague, or both. With a standoffish and melancholy personality, he slowly comes to terms with his loss and despite his inability to fully restore them to their original state, their spirits never fail to answer his call in battle.

Why do all the guys have to be standoffish and gruff and the women soft and affectionate? Between this, the way you harp on about "masculinity" in only a traditional manner, the comment earlier that we need someone gentle like Yuna or Vanille, and the idea from earlier that having intelligent women in the party is somehow minimizing the men in the party, whether you intend to do so or not, you're coming out with an incredibly misogynistic viewpoint.

[Raoabolic]

Why do all the guys have to be standoffish and gruff and the women soft and affectionate?

Because you rarely see that in entertainment anymore. When it happens, it's a breath of fresh air, lol.

[Iscah]

Do you remember the 3.3 trailer where Aymeric is carrying Estinien? The developers like to troll us. And I'm not sure why you think this sort of thing is new because 3.3 was the end of the very expansion you're referring to that apparently was the only one to allow people to die. By not having him die.

Heavensward also undid the apparent sacrifices of half the main cast in 2.55 and played the scene where Aymeric was stabbed as if he had died from it – only for him to be perfectly fine and well enough to lead us in rescuing captives from the Vault a few quests later. And then Vidofnir got speared and was also fine.

[RyuDragnier]

Because you rarely see that in entertainment anymore, lol.

...you mean the thing very common in this game through the story?

[Raoabolic]

...you mean the thing very common in this game through the story?

Show me some examples post HW. At most I will give you Gosestu but those types are a huge minority. Just because something isn't 100% doesn't mean it's not 95%...

[aveyond-dreams]

Because you rarely see that in entertainment anymore. When it happens, it's a breath of fresh air, lol.

Precisely this. Again, it is incredibly frustrating when posters take what is nothing more than a suggestion and try to twist it into painting me as a villain, again. I've lost track of how many times this has happened. Apparently asking for male Highlanders to have some straight nose options was also something that a different poster tried to twist against me. I simply cannot understand that kind of logic. Then again, there are also numerous FFXIV players who have accused those of us who question the way in which Venat was portrayed in Endwalker as hating women so I suppose none of these words mean anything anymore and thus whatever power they once held has been rendered moot.

In any case I know who to I will refrain from interacting with in the future, because I refuse to deal with posters who are going to hurl such accusations against me. I gave some suggestions as to who could be included to make this cast more likeable. There was nothing to derive any sort of offense from in that post. I despise the way that modern media has pushed the inversion of gender roles to the point where sticking to their original form is now considered outside the norm. The balance was offset, I say bring it back to a healthier state wherein there's enough give and take for both sides.