Can we have an honest conversation about the Scions? Dawn Trail

[Hycinthus]

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As just one example of how this could work, let's examine Y'shtola. The writers have already met us halfway by giving her a new goal to chase: she wants to return to The First. Now, to make this more interesting we could introduce some urgency to her search. We already know that time works differently between shards. Maybe remind the writers and have Y'shtola genuinely distressed at the prospect of Runar growing old without her or something. Urgency leads calm and sensible people to do desperate things in order to get what they want. So maybe now, at the height of desperation, Y'shtola discovers a method of returning to The First, but it involves doing something uncharacteristically self centered/malicious on her part. So now she has to struggle with, like, "do I stay true to myself and search for another way, or do I put my own desires first even if it harms others?" and to me that sort of dilemma is way more interesting than whatever the hell she does now.
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I love this. Can you propose this story to SE?

We can even have a story of fighting Y’shtola in a trial to try to stop her from going over the line.

[AmorfaVex]

The Scions are my family. 1 year, 10 years, 50 years....

Don't bleep with my family.

Annoying at times, sure, but they are still my damn family.

Complaining about story arcs is bull imo. There is always room for a new adventure. Anyone that can tell the story of their life in 10 years had a pretty damn boring life.

I dont mind bringing new people into my family, but dont force an entire new family on me. If you want to do that, just release FF17 with a brand new cast.

[Yuella]

From the artwork, looks like they're phasing out Y'shtola and the twins and focusing on Thancred, Urianger and Krile while introducing new characters. G'raha and Estinien are recent scions so I don't mind having them for a while longer but looks like they're taking a backseat as well.

[Turtledeluxe]

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As far as I am aware, this thread is asking about the Scions. It mentions new characters but new characters would, I assume mean full time party members who are equivalent to Scions even if they are not called Scions. As such, characters like Ryne and even Jullus and anyone like them are not relevant. They're fantastic characters but they aren't held to the same screen time or scrutiny as a very very main character would. Ryne is like seeing a Scion at their best angle constantly rather than every angle, even meandering moments of lifestyle, as we get with a main character.

Main characters are also the face of the game. They're the ones who sell the main trailers. Ryne, Jullus and Co don't do that. Designing a character who will fit into that mould is challenging and risky not just for the narrative but also for literally selling the game. That's why they play it safe and give you the same shit over and over.

Also just a general thought regarding the OP but it isn't so much the Scions are boring as much as it is the team does not indulge them with any interesting arcs anymore. It's all just sass, sexual tension, twin politics, or graha telling you for the 57th time to take him on your next adventure. The one exception being the Garlemald segment of 6.0 which was quite satisfying for the Twins.

[Aravell]

It's rather strange to me that people equate asking that the Scions take a backseat for a bit to attacking their close family and friends. From what we can see, only Krile and Thancred have any direct stake in Dawntrail, was it necessary to bring everyone else too? All the Scions being in Dawntrail is made even weirder by them stating after the "official disbanding" of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn that they should avoid all coming together for anything to keep up the pretense of the disbanding to the rest of the world, but suddenly it's fine for everyone to meet up and travel?

No one is asking for any of the Scions to die, just for some of them to take a backseat to make room for new characters, like how Y'shtola took a backseat for most of Stormblood.

[Gemina]

The Scions are my family. 1 year, 10 years, 50 years....

Don't bleep with my family.

Annoying at times, sure, but they are still my damn family.

Complaining about story arcs is bull imo. There is always room for a new adventure. Anyone that can tell the story of their life in 10 years had a pretty damn boring life.

I dont mind bringing new people into my family, but dont force an entire new family on me. If you want to do that, just release FF17 with a brand new cast.

Nothing can erase the history established between the WoL and the other Scions. This is a rather constricted view of the Scions and the WoL. It is also contradictory to Azem, and what their seat symbolizes among the grand scheme of the story. The Scions embarking on their own individual adventures away from the group doesn't sever the ties with each other, but it does limit the where, when, and why they go to any region around the world along with their growth. Y'shtola, Urianger, Thancred, and the Twins all had the most exponential amount of character growth when they were all separated on the first away from each other, and the WoL. This is irrefutable.

New members shouldn't be or feel forced. It should happen after a natural chemistry between characters takes place. This is why a character like Ryne and/or Jullus would be a welcome addition, while characters like Erenville feel totally forced. With the former we have bled together on the battlefield, and have had impactful emotional experiences with each other. Erenville? He showed to be intelligent enough to see through our frog glamour. Welcome aboard mate!

Several Scions have simply have had their character arcs concluded in regards to their conflicts. You could introduce a new conflict, but this takes away screen time from new characters. Hence why characters like Ryne and Jullus are punted out of the story entirely, or they make cameo appearances that leave us saddened when we have to part ways yet again.

[Eisi]

New members shouldn't be or feel forced. It should happen after a natural chemistry between characters takes place. This is why a character like Ryne and/or Jullus would be a welcome addition, while characters like Erenville feel totally forced. With the former we have bled together on the battlefield, and have had impactful emotional experiences with each other. Erenville? He showed to be intelligent enough to see through our frog glamour. Welcome aboard mate!

Yeah and think about that Hrothgal, she didn't even do anything and yet she appears alongside the other characters in the Dawntrail trailer and even smiles (!) as if she was our best friend?!

Nothing so far suggests that Erenville and her are being treated as anything but acquaintances. They seem sympathetic enough, sure but just because they are there and friendly doesn't mean the game "forces" some sort of mutual friendship that hasn't even been established yet.

[Cynric]

I like the scions personally, I hope to see them have many more character arcs while also introducing more characters slowly. I don't see any reason to phase them out completely, they're basically the main cast of XIV and I've enjoyed seeing how they have developed over the last 10+ years.

They always add new characters each expansion to varying degrees that we sometimes continue to interact with every now and then and it makes it a big deal when characters join the cast that we have with the scions. It wouldn't feel very organic if we just dropped the scions and then introduced some new group of characters that were just the Scions lite meant to take their place.

I support adding more characters to our ever growing group of friends and would've liked to see a character like Zenos somehow make it in there or Emmet Selch. However I don't support killing the scions just for the sake of replacing them with a lesser version just for the sake of being different.

[Coratanni]

That doesn't change that Zero was poorly written? Moonbryda was around for like 1 patch and is more memorable then Zero?

It's funny you say that. I've gone through her story on 7-8 characters and each time I wonder how she made an impact on some people to the way that she did. She was a nice character, but not all that memorable.

[Gyson]

Wouldn't the argument here be more along the lines of them keeping the original crew and not having the next generation at all?

I figured someone was going to ask that, but (in my mind) no.. I did not reference the original crew because the original series ended 18 years before The Next Generation.

Comparing Paramount's quick shift from TNG to DS9 and Voyager (and the cast changes happening at Marvel over the last few years) feel much more comparable to having the Scions around in one expansion and then suddenly replacing them all with a new cast for the next expansion. It's too jarring, and people who enjoy the Scions (or the cast of TNG, or the original Avengers cast) didn't get 18 years to get over the idea that they're favorite characters have been phased out.