Quote Originally Posted by Rosenstrauch View Post
Arcadion spoilers ahead. tl;dr: I liked almost all of it, but have an issue that's left me dreading the final act.
I am in agreement with your takes!

Eutrope had an edge and mystery to her that made her compelling, and it made me ponder about the lengths she will go to get our soul, but all of it kind of came crashing down with the simple revelation that she is just trying to save the man that she loves/loved. And now we have a potential cure so she has nothing left except to be the love interest and damsel in distress. That's a rough turnaround for a character that felt quite strong.

Their relationship also does kind of overshadow the entire intriguing elements and themes that were brought up by Brute Bomber's death. Like... what are the chances his death actually matters now that Retserra can rid of his guilty conscience of knowingly sending his best friend to his death by being the knight in shining armor and rescuing his damsel in distress and fixing his relationship with Eutrope. They already had some good plot threads building up, but the whole relationship and kidnapping just kind of derailed everything and I can't help but feel a bit jilted and bitter about it lmao.

I'm also somewhat shocked that... we are still in Solution 9, with people wearing their regulators, and the culture hasn't really changed around death and dying. So why does Brute Bomber's death feel so.. underwhelming in terms of how people react to it? Witnessing death and remembering it is supposed to be foreign to these people, so why is the reaction to such a morbid death so... whatever? I mean we do get a few tears from Retsarra, but only really when pushed to it. It's just another thing that the whole relationship between Retsarra and Eutrope kind of overshadows, as more time should've been instead put into dissecting this death instead of establishing a relationship drama between two characters.

I'm all for Brute Bomber not being dead if his death doesn't get the time and respect it deserves, even though FFXIV gets clowned for never truly killing people. I was reading comments from Japanese users, and some seem pretty bothered by the death as well and others suspect he will be back next tier.