The Negative Impact of Poor Character Writing on the Quality of Dawntrail's MSQ

[chizLemons]

(...) Even just looking back at stuff from 6.55 is jarring- the everyone had so much more personality(...)

Did you really think so?
Ever since 6.2 I few like the characters have been all out of character for a long time now.

The main thing I notice is that either the writer reduced the character to one single trait at a time, or they just speak like "the Scion" described by OP.

Zero during her story, although she seems less annoying than Wuk Lamat, does the hat thing repeatedly, just like WL talks about peace. They both are one-note characters that barely learn anything and keep repeating the same mistakes and questions and acting the same way.

Y'shtola, the writer knows she is supposed to be smart. He seems to struggle writing characters actually being smart, so every solution she presented during the whole story were things she did offscreen. She talked to Cid offscreen and then already had the device we needed to take to the First. She talked to G'raha offscreen and got instructions on how to use the tower...

In 6.55, G'raha for some reason is saying "hear, feel think", like it randomly happens during Dawntrail as well. Him offering to stay behind so Krile could go is completely out of character as well, because didn't we just promise to take him to a new adventure? Didn't he always get excited to go somewhere new?
If only the game had given us a reason of why it's so important for him to stay and take care of things, then it wouldn't feel so bad. But in Dawntrail, we only got him saying "I took care of the most pressing matters". What pressing matters? What was so important that G'RAHA TIA didn't flinch at the thought of not going on an adventure with the Warrior of Light?!

Krile didn't act any less different than she does during the whole DT MSQ. It's been a while since she last teased someone or acted with more conviction than calmy saying "I want to learn about my past".

The twins...appear out of nowhere and say nothing.

The one that seemed to have personality in 6.55 was Wuk Lamat. And it felt fresh and fun because we didn't know her yet, so the idea was that "oh ok there's more to find out about her! She is cheerful and extroverted, but seems very naive as well." and...we saw the exact same thing during the MSQ. Even worse because of the peace and smiles repeated dialogue.

The one thing 6.55 did better was Wuk Lamat and Erenville talking while they were eating, which wasn't very long but it was cute. And we could've had more of their friendship in Dawntrail, but considering how much time we spend with them, they barely talk. Sometimes it felt like they didn't even know eachother well...

The same writing problems of Dawntrail were starting to show as early as 6.2 for me. Maybe we didn't notice them as much because they were shorter stories, or we were expecting less because they were "just patches", hoping the expansion would be better...but they were there.

[aTanpopo]

In 6.55, G'raha for some reason is saying "hear, feel think", like it randomly happens during Dawntrail as well. Him offering to stay behind so Krile could go is completely out of character as well, because didn't we just promise to take him to a new adventure? Didn't he always get excited to go somewhere new?
If only the game had given us a reason of why it's so important for him to stay and take care of things, then it wouldn't feel so bad. But in Dawntrail, we only got him saying "I took care of the most pressing matters". What pressing matters? What was so important that G'RAHA TIA didn't flinch at the thought of not going on an adventure with the Warrior of Light?!

Krile didn't act any less different than she does during the whole DT MSQ. It's been a while since she last teased someone or acted with more conviction than calmy saying "I want to learn about my past".

The twins...appear out of nowhere and say nothing.

The one that seemed to have personality in 6.55 was Wuk Lamat. And it felt fresh and fun because we didn't know her yet, so the idea was that "oh ok there's more to find out about her! She is cheerful and extroverted, but seems very naive as well." and...we saw the exact same thing during the MSQ. Even worse because of the peace and smiles repeated dialogue.

The one thing 6.55 did better was Wuk Lamat and Erenville talking while they were eating, which wasn't very long but it was cute. And we could've had more of their friendship in Dawntrail, but considering how much time we spend with them, they barely talk. Sometimes it felt like they didn't even know eachother well...

The same writing problems of Dawntrail were starting to show as early as 6.2 for me. Maybe we didn't notice them as much because they were shorter stories, or we were expecting less because they were "just patches", hoping the expansion would be better...but they were there.

The "hear feel think" thing wasn't just G'raha, I'm pretty sure Thancred said it at some part too (when talking with koana iirc). I think it was more of a way of trying to just reference back to hydaelyn for the players, but I agree it can feel a bit out of place to hear it from people without much of a connection.

I didn't feel it was out of character for G'raha to offer to stay behind. As much as he wants to go on an adventure with you, this opportunity for Krile to follow her Grandfather's footsteps and learn about his journey in Tural is more important. Krile is a friend of his that he grew up with- her Grandfather and The Students are practically his adoptive family. He has plenty of time in the future to go on those adventures with you- this could be Krile's only chance to do this.

While I can agree that other scions have been reduced to being a bit one-note lately (the twins only caring about Garlemald, Y'shotla being Y'shotla), 6.55 felt like there was a bit more chemistry between the group and it felt like that was missing in 7.0.

Wuk Lamat had personality, but the way dialogue and character acting in 6.55 was done made her feel more than just the "shonen protagonist, i will be the next hokage dawnservant" we get in the 7.0 MSQ. She acts in a way that isn't necessarily fitting for a princess, which Erenville brings up directly saying could make her, and by association him as well, look bad (i think this is conveyed a bit better in the japanese voice lines though). Come 7.0, people don't ever really comment on that anymore. It could be because those in Tural are used to her behaviour, but no one ever really tells her to be more professional even when she's the representative for an entire nation. She has the same sense of faux confidence we get in 7.0, but the way its shown in 6.55 was way more subtle. After the duty fight with the big bird she is visibly shaking, but still trying to act like some perfect warrior, which was a nice way of introducing that aspect of her character but come 7.0 she is endlessly confidant in combat and instead is trying to hide she gets motion sick. The trait of being inexperienced in combat would have been more effective given her eventually becoming the Vow of Resolve, but even when facing Valigarmanda, a creature that had a reputation of killing so many people, she's fine.

Also yeah the lack of interaction between her and Erenville was very disappointing, I'm quietly hoping they can bring some of it back in post-MSQ but I don't want do get my hopes up too high. When you first meet Wuk Lamat and she is talking about how much she's heard about you and all these incredible feats you've done for the world, while Erenville looks pretty mortified you are all finding out he's been singing your praises like a fanboy and has to do damage control, I thought to myself "hell yeah, I'm looking forward to more of this" but then they barely have any interactions and we learn nothing more about their friendship. Shame.

[Iximaz]

I didn't feel it was out of character for G'raha to offer to stay behind. As much as he wants to go on an adventure with you, this opportunity for Krile to follow her Grandfather's footsteps and learn about his journey in Tural is more important. Krile is a friend of his that he grew up with- her Grandfather and The Students are practically his adoptive family. He has plenty of time in the future to go on those adventures with you- this could be Krile's only chance to do this.

I made mention elsewhere in this thread, but the complete lack of acknowledgement of G'raha and Krile's relationship in an expansion that loves its themes of found family is just downright insulting. I was sad to leave G'raha behind, but if it meant we would finally get more characterisation of Krile (and maybe a touching reunion when he inevitably joined us in Tural... hah...) I happily waved goodbye to him and set off for Tural.

And we got... nothing. Krile was given so little attention she might as well have been standing in the corner for how much she mattered to the plot.

Not pressing Gulool Ja Ja for information on her grandfather made sense in the moment, but not whenever she met other people who knew her grandfather! She was content to just smile and nod and continue on her merry way—and when answers about her past were finally dropped into her lap through no effort on her part, she found out about it offscreen. We get none of the emotional fallout of her discovering the truth that she's from a different shard.

She and G'raha also barely acknowledge each other. When she meets her parents, you would think that'd be the perfect moment for her to mention they were raised together. Instead, she introduces him as her colleague, before turning and addressing him as Raha to his face. It's like the writers don't even know why Krile is allowed to call him that. His eating the ice cream as a way to break the ice is the most familiar they've ever acted with each other, and the whole moment was SO viscerally uncomfortable I was recoiling in my seat.

(And speaking of Krile's parents, she's SO unphased and downright cheerful about the whole situation it comes off as utterly bizarre, but I think I'm about to reach the character limit and my beef with how clumsily they handled that could be an essay on its own.)

[chizLemons]

Not pressing Gulool Ja Ja for information on her grandfather made sense in the moment, but not whenever she met other people who knew her grandfather! She was content to just smile and nod and continue on her merry way—and when answers about her past were finally dropped into her lap through no effort on her part, she found out about it offscreen. We get none of the emotional fallout of her discovering the truth that she's from a different shard.

She and G'raha also barely acknowledge each other. When she meets her parents, you would think that'd be the perfect moment for her to mention they were raised together. Instead, she introduces him as her colleague, before turning and addressing him as Raha to his face. It's like the writers don't even know why Krile is allowed to call him that. His eating the ice cream as a way to break the ice is the most familiar they've ever acted with each other, and the whole moment was SO viscerally uncomfortable I was recoiling in my seat.

(And speaking of Krile's parents, she's SO unphased and downright cheerful about the whole situation it comes off as utterly bizarre, but I think I'm about to reach the character limit and my beef with how clumsily they handled that could be an essay on its own.)

They handled Krile so badly. She never got any development at all! It's like the writers just used her as a tool to get to lala lore at the end.
The amount of times in the story, specially Krile, ask someone for information, for them to just say "I can't tell you right now" is so pointless. Why even write it there, then?! It also happened way too often for things to be solved offscreen and we just hear about it later...while spending way too much time on things that just don't matter, and no time at all in developing the characters.

I feel like they didn't even know what Krile's personality was, so they just didn't write any. Even when she met her parents, we don't see them talking. She gets awkward, then we get the AWFUL, horrible ice cream scene...and then her parents say "it's the happiest day of their lives". What did they even talk about? Why couldn't we hear it? Why couldn't G'raha share something about her, and we all learn about her past, her found family and friends? They immediately go to talking about lore.

[chizLemons]

The "hear feel think" thing wasn't just G'raha, I'm pretty sure Thancred said it at some part too (when talking with koana iirc)

Yeah, I meant the "hear, feel, think" was randomly placed by many characters, not just G'raha. It's weird and out of character for all of them, and serves no narrative purpose other than "they said the thing", no matter who is saying.

I didn't feel it was out of character for G'raha to offer to stay behind. As much as he wants to go on an adventure with you, this opportunity for Krile to follow her Grandfather's footsteps and learn about his journey in Tural is more important. Krile is a friend of his that he grew up with- her Grandfather and The Students are practically his adoptive family. He has plenty of time in the future to go on those adventures with you- this could be Krile's only chance to do this.

I think it was out of character, because WHY does he have to stay behind so she could go? Why couldn't they both go? What was so important that he had to stay behind to take care of, that they couldn't go together? Wouldn't he think of another option other than immediately offering to stay behind?! No one ever thinks of solutions so everyone gets to go, she nevers tries to protest like "there's no need!". At least give me A GOOD REASON, what are you two working on (by yourselves? No one else can do it?!) that's so important?! Not even Alisaie says anything, and she used to protest against him staying behind and not being a part of things. Remember that Alisaie was in the same room? I don't think she ever says anything. We also don't get even an option to react. Meanwhile, in DT, when it's decided that Alisaie will stay behind (because Y'shtola had to convince G'raha to go after he offered to stay behind, AGAIN) we at least get a dialogue option. Still one of the worst written scenes for the Scions, but at least there's that.

After the reactions and how the scene when he arrives in Tural go, it just confirmed that it was just yet another poor excuse from this writer to split the group, like he constantly does during the entire MSQ.
KRILE is the one calls him back "because of his knowledge"...so you mean he could be here anyway? Didn't he have to stay behind for whatever? No? Oh, okay...
We also don't see anything that hints at him being interested in going, or when he arrives in Tullyolal, never says anything about being happy to be there. Krile never says anything or even thank you for him staying behind for her. They just talk like business partners, he talks about Ojika taking care of things while he's here, and that's it. Where is their friendship, then?! I never saw it, and we had so many opportunities for that.

And also, the promise of going on an adventure was never mentioned again, like we all forgot about it. In Endwalker, he said how our promises always kept us together, now he doesn't even mention promising anything.

[Vhana]

In 6.55, G'raha for some reason is saying "hear, feel think", like it randomly happens during Dawntrail as well. Him offering to stay behind so Krile could go is completely out of character as well, because didn't we just promise to take him to a new adventure? Didn't he always get excited to go somewhere new?
If only the game had given us a reason of why it's so important for him to stay and take care of things, then it wouldn't feel so bad. But in Dawntrail, we only got him saying "I took care of the most pressing matters". What pressing matters? What was so important that G'RAHA TIA didn't flinch at the thought of not going on an adventure with the Warrior of Light?!

In 6.55, I really thought that G'raha offered to stay back because he found something off about the whole situation and wanted to return to the crystal tower to review whatever old Allagan intel existed about Tural. As usual, I was so so very wrong about the direction of things.