Endwalker's Graha Tia: A Character Rewrite

[Absimiliard]

I really think this says more about you than G'raha Tia, to be honest.

So you're saying his continuous amorous advances are acceptable behavior? Perhaps I am missing context here or something, but that's definitely what this appears to be. That's a concerning mindset to have.

[dustdjinn]

I love Graha. He is my favorite character! I love knowing he is my buddy forever.

[PaulH]

Ah G'raha Tia my very keen and happy buddy with boundless enthusiasm I don't get any creepy vibes myself personally I see him as an excited person who has some goals/dreams that he wants to fulfill with someone he cares about. No creepy vibes for me at all, no sexual advances or innuendo. He hasn't intruded in my physical space from a virtual perspective or done anything I find puts me ill at ease. Maybe I see it as a bromance.

As a gay guy who is demi myself I find him quite adorable than creepy and don't think that G'raha behaves anywhere near the guys of grindr, scruff etc or other such apps in my experience that is an education in itself. He sort of appeals to my demi romantic nature as a narrative oddly, am aware he is pixels and not real .

So from me, he doesn't need rewriting.

[Iscah]

So you're saying his continuous amorous advances are acceptable behavior? Perhaps I am missing context here or something, but that's definitely what this appears to be. That's a concerning mindset to have.

Context is what you apply to it. My character is good friends with him (which is clearly what the writers intend, whether you accept or reject it), and he would not be acting that way if they were not already emotionally close. Therefore it does not come across as creepy but as a demonstration of that existing friendship.

[aveyond-dreams]

Context is what you apply to it. My character is good friends with him (which is clearly what the writers intend, whether you accept or reject it), and he would not be acting that way if they were not already emotionally close. Therefore it does not come across as creepy but as a demonstration of that existing friendship.

The writers have failed to depict anything that I could consider a good friendship when it comes to this character. It feels forced. Hence, why he comes across as creepy and acts as a repellent to those not into him. Even if someone was "emotionally close" acting like that makes me want to bolt and take off for the hills.

[Boblawblah]

The writers have failed to depict anything that I could consider a good friendship when it comes to this character. It feels forced. Hence, why he comes across as creepy and acts as a repellent to those not into him. Even if someone was "emotionally close" acting like that makes me want to bolt and take off for the hills.

To YOU. to many others, G'raha is a close friend, and so his behavior is completely normal.

To ME, Zenos is this weird stalker, and MY WoL would just ignore him instead of fighting him, but I don't have that choice. And that's okay, the story has to hit plot points and unless they made every npc completely neutral towards the player character, there is going to be some players who don't have the focus they want. If someone really dispises Lyse (as I do), they might find the scenes where you're forced to bond with her fake feeling, but if you love her, it makes perfect sense. They can't write the story for everyone and still have anything more than "oh hello WoL, let us continue our totally professional discussion about the end of the world in a completely neutral fashion with no mention about how important we are to each other.". It just doesn't work.

[Iscah]

To ME, Zenos is this weird stalker, and MY WoL would just ignore him instead of fighting him, but I don't have that choice. And that's okay, the story has to hit plot points and unless they made every npc completely neutral towards the player character, there is going to be some players who don't have the focus they want.

This too. Even before you get to the technicalities of whether our character would/could have refused to fight him in that moment, or if the fight was inevitable and only the motivation varies, my WoL feels like a poor contrast to Zenos from start to finish and the scenes between them have never felt right. The chemistry isn't there. I have to watch them play out regardless.

[Midareyukki]

This too. Even before you get to the technicalities of whether our character would/could have refused to fight him in that moment, or if the fight was inevitable and only the motivation varies, my WoL feels like a poor contrast to Zenos from start to finish and the scenes between them have never felt right. The chemistry isn't there. I have to watch them play out regardless.

I think this is probably the connundrum any RPer has to go through. Your character quite often will not be in X situation, yet "thou must" because there's no other narrative for us to pursue. FF14 is linear and has to proceed as the devs intend it.

Like Yugiri's dumb-as-almighty-hell idea to ambush Zenos when it's a ridiculously stupid idea and would have gotten everyone killed were it not for convenience. Our choices both agree with her, and we have to follow through her plan despite people staring at it like "This isn't gonna end well."

[Iscah]

Like Yugiri's dumb-as-almighty-hell idea to ambush Zenos when it's a ridiculously stupid idea and would have gotten everyone killed were it not for convenience. Our choices both agree with her, and we have to follow through her plan despite people staring at it like "This isn't gonna end well."

On that particular instance, I feel like there was a missed opportunity for a third option where you say "this is a terrible plan, and that's why I'm coming to bail you out when it all goes wrong."

[AwesomeJr44]

To YOU. to many others, G'raha is a close friend, and so his behavior is completely normal.

So make a dialogue option that makes Graha back off a bit. I don't want this guy in my face constantly, pretending to be my super bestest friendo when he's not, and I shouldn't have to put up with a bad character being shoved into my face constantly because other people are obsessed with him. Either make it a choice, or have a character that appeals 50% to both groups so that no one has to put up with something they don't like.

And before anyone calls the idea of a dialogue choice changing a character's behavior to be unrealistic, plenty of other games including other MMOS (SWTOR for example) have dialogue options that impact FAR more than this.