What was the purpose of the Yda twist?

[kaynide]

Just my humble opinion: I got the impression they created Lyse and really liked the character, but rather than bloat the cast with a new face they decided to remove an otherwise redundant/"dead-ended" character.

I probably wouldn't have done the name swap, but maybe a "Yda grew up fast with the trauma of losing Papalymo", but it's the direction they wanted to go with it, so... is what it is I suppose.

That said, game is full of pointless drama for the sake of having drama that real-world people would just have talked out right away...so maybe it's just more of that?
(Scions knowing all along Yda's identity; Alis/Alph's father not just saying he was doing everything for their benefit, etc)

[Lady_Silvermoon]

Just my humble opinion: I got the impression they created Lyse and really liked the character, but rather than bloat the cast with a new face they decided to remove an otherwise redundant/"dead-ended" character.

I probably wouldn't have done the name swap, but maybe a "Yda grew up fast with the trauma of losing Papalymo", but it's the direction they wanted to go with it, so... is what it is I suppose.

That said, game is full of pointless drama for the sake of having drama that real-world people would just have talked out right away...so maybe it's just more of that?
(Scions knowing all along Yda's identity; Alis/Alph's father not just saying he was doing everything for their benefit, etc)

Many people have stated that Yda was like 40 and Lyse clearly isn't, so I guess that's another reason she had to be pretending to be her sister. Though that does make me wonder if their parents had kids 20 years apart.

I get why Fourchenault acted the way he did. For one, he literally couldn't tell them the whole truth cause of the spell. And he was fully planning on clunking them over the head and dragging them onto the lifeboat cause he knew they'd take issue with leaving people to die and would try to stay and fight. He was gearing up for a full on, "it's easier to ask forgiveness than to get permission" situation.

[kaynide]

Many people have stated that Yda was like 40 and Lyse clearly isn't, so I guess that's another reason she had to be pretending to be her sister. Though that does make me wonder if their parents had kids 20 years apart.

I get why Fourchenault acted the way he did. For one, he literally couldn't tell them the whole truth cause of the spell. And he was fully planning on clunking them over the head and dragging them onto the lifeboat cause he knew they'd take issue with leaving people to die and would try to stay and fight. He was gearing up for a full on, "it's easier to ask forgiveness than to get permission" situation.

I mean, sure, but it could also have been a “look kids, I’m doing everything I can to save as many people as I can. I can’t tell you the details, but know everything I am doing it is for you and your future. In the meantime, if you can come up with something better, I all ears and will offer my total support.”

[Lady_Silvermoon]

I mean, sure, but it could also have been a “look kids, I’m doing everything I can to save as many people as I can. I can’t tell you the details, but know everything I am doing it is for you and your future. In the meantime, if you can come up with something better, I all ears and will offer my total support.”

That leads to the exact same path they ended up on with him disowning them. "What are you doing? What you do mean you can't tell us? We're gonna have to go to Old Sharlayan and investigate." His goal for being rude to them was for them NOT to go to Old Sharlayan and discover the super secret toy boat they were gonna use to save themselves and their allies.

Plus they were asking for Sharlayan's help fighting the towers. The answer, "we're working on something, but we won't work with you" would have floated as an answer they would have accepted. Had we bought the whole disowning act, then there would have been no reason to go to Sharlayan. It was because his behavior seemed sus that we went there.

[Cleretic]

Plus they were asking for Sharlayan's help fighting the towers. The answer, "we're working on something, but we won't work with you" would have floated as an answer they would have accepted.

You and I have very different notions of how the twins respond to suspicious withholding of information. Especially Alphinaud.

But I think with this, both of you are falling into a trap of looking at that scene from a purely plot-functional perspective. I'm a fan of that angle, but it needs to also have the actual character of the... well, characters, involved. That scene isn't just an introduction of plot hooks for the upcoming expansion, it's also an introduction to Fourchenault, a character long known of as a background player (fun fact, his bio's not in EE3, because it was in EE1, that's how long he was in the wings). He needed to make as strong an impression in that scene as Wak Lamat's going to need to make next week.

And the impression Fourchenault had to put forward is that he is not a nice person. One of the few things we knew about him is that he stood in political opposition to Louisoix, for reasons that make him essentially an embodiment of all of Sharlayan's worst tendencies. The fact that the words he chose on that day were so nakedly cruel says as much about him and Sharlayan as the actual content of what he said. Yeah, it caused 'needless drama', but maybe that's not the fault of the story, but the fault of the character in it.

[Blindheart]

Plot twist, Yda did not die on screen. She did not show up in ataliscope dungeon. She could still be alive as a garlean prisoner. Or brainwashed and still fighting for the enemy in one of the remaining factions out there. Great story potential and a way to bring lyse back into the story and tie up loose plot threads with all this.

[Chasingstars]

For me who wasn't familiar with the 1.0 versions of Papalymo and Yda until later from youtube videos, "Yda" didn't really feel like she changed character much, and I say this as someone did experience the old ARR questing before they trimmed it down. So when the "shocking twist" of Lyse came in, I had no idea who her sister was. Me being naive, I thought "Okay maybe they will show what her sister was like more than just the dress." But it just sort of faded into the background. I didn't hate Lyse, just found her not that interesting, in fact I just assumed that was the entire point of Yda/Lyse was to be some undercover person and that there was nothing more to her until I saw the 1.0x videos.

[JepMZ]

Plot twist, Yda did not die on screen. She did not show up in ataliscope dungeon. She could still be alive as a garlean prisoner. Or brainwashed and still fighting for the enemy in one of the remaining factions out there. Great story potential and a way to bring lyse back into the story and tie up loose plot threads with all this.

Well, it's been 6-14 years she was gone and everyone else canonically, been there for less than a year, maybe even half. She could've been reborn already, explaining her absence

*Edit* oh, I got a medal for some reason

[Cleretic]

Plot twist, Yda did not die on screen. She did not show up in ataliscope dungeon. She could still be alive as a garlean prisoner. Or brainwashed and still fighting for the enemy in one of the remaining factions out there. Great story potential and a way to bring lyse back into the story and tie up loose plot threads with all this.

I mean, she didn't know us anyway, so I dunno why she'd turn up anyway.