Alphinaud

[Haxaan]

"snip"

(And yes, permanent costume change please! But maybe keep the goggles since it's kind of part of his fixed appearance. I wonder if he'd go back to the other robes, or if Tataru would come up with something for him...?)

I have been praying for Tataru to give him a makeover since they revealed what his face looks like in HW. I absolutely love his design and his character and hope that one day Square will give him the love he deserves (prays it happens in Shadowbringers, since it seems the appropriate time to bring him back to the front line)

I agree. It feels like there's very little connection between "Yda's" personality and Lyse's.

Yda actually had one.

But seriously, she was an obvious personality type that would be "easy to write" and work out how she'd respond to a situation (airheaded comment, snarky retort from Papalymo, all good fun). Lyse... I honestly have no idea. She's just there.

I loved Yda and Papalymo. They were the light on an otherwise gloomy day. Their clever banter and ready to go attitude always made me smile. Lyse... there really isn't much to say about her. She is rather vapid and shallow as far as depth of character are concerned. For someone who is put in such a high place in the plotline she really does nothing to help improve the emotion of the scenes. She just exists. I REALLY hope they do something with her because at this point I'd take Minfillia back over doing another scene with Lyse.

[Iscah]

I have been praying for Tataru to give Urianger a makeover since they revealed what his face looks like in HW. I absolutely love his design and his character and hope that one day Square will give him the love he deserves (prays it happens in Shadowbringers, since it seems the appropriate time to bring him back to the front line)
---
I loved Yda and Papalymo. They were the light on an otherwise gloomy day. Their clever banter and ready to go attitude always made me smile. Lyse... there really isn't much to say about her. She is rather vapid and shallow as far as depth of character are concerned. For someone who is put in such a high place in the plotline she really does nothing to help improve the emotion of the scenes. She just exists. I REALLY hope they do something with her because at this point I'd take Minfillia back over doing another scene with Lyse.

Agreed on both accounts! It seems like a major mistake to have separated Lyse from Papalymo. I assume it was meant to be for character growth, but she's just lost all sign of her previous self.

And yeah, I really like Urianger's design and I hope we see him looking like that more often. (I was just getting used to the fact that this is what he actually looks like, and it was back to the hood and goggles...)

He definitely should get a bigger role - and we'll need him for all the history and arcane knowledge it looks like we're going to need in Shadowbringers!

Yet Alisaie is in her original outfit in Binding Coils of Bahamut, but her and Alphinaud can be seen in their current outfits in Sirensong Sea. I mean I get that they aren't a sidequest giver like Urianger, but I anticipate that most characters have more than one outfit and Urianger just likes to be comfortable in his clothes at the Waking Sands. I don't consider costumes to be absolute since outfits are interchangeable.

The thing with that situation is that 2.X Alisaie in the Binding Coil and 4.0 Alisaie in the Sirensong Sea (and in fact every single version of a character appearing in a different location or in a cutscene) are functionally separate NPCs. The NPC that is 4.0 Alisaie never replaces 2.X Alisaie, they simply appear in different places and during different quests. And time-bubble shenanigans are in play as well - you might be seeing the two Alisaies simultaneously, but they do not actually exist simultaneously. You're just somehow interacting with her at two different points in her life at once, until you've resolved the role you were supposed to play in assisting her younger self. The Binding Coil always takes place in the 2.X period, regardless of when you actually play it.

On the other hand, Urianger is the same NPC located at the Waking Sands from 2.X up to 4.4 (or beyond if you leave his quests unfinished), and has to remain constant. The Waking Sands NPC cannot change costume because then if you walked up to him to start your next step in the Binding Coil quest, if it transitioned to a cutscene he'd suddenly be back in his other costume.

For that matter, I don't think NPCs actually *can* change costume, as such. Their character data includes their gear. For a character to change their clothing, I think it would actually mean having a second NPC at the same location and activating it (and deactivating the original NPC) at the appropriate time. And if you did that to a character who has quests attached to them, I think that would mean the quests are still linked with the original NPC and not the replacement.

Shame he has to be 'unavailable' this time but there's also the less-known Scions like Harry Boulder or Ephemie. I think they will take his spot this time because I can imagine Alisae staring blankly at Urianger's words.

Yes, but how good is Hoary Boulder at decoding and explaining cryptic prophecies upon which rest the fate of this very star?

(Also keep in mind that Urianger's speech is essentially two steps removed from "our" modern English - archaic speech relative to the baseline slightly-archaic version that most characters speak. I assume he must seem to them to be on a similar level as they are to us. And I don't find him that hard to follow anyway.)

I'm pretty sure he has to be back sooner rather than later. Partway through Shadowbringers if not before.

Though one minor Scion I am waiting to hear back from is Dariustel, the Duskwight who was at the Waking Sands for the later part of ARR, and hasn't been seen since. The lorebook says he's currently "working to counter the actions of the beast tribes", so perhaps in a similar role to what we saw in that sidestory with Arenvald and Fordola?

[Songwillow]

The thing with that situation is that 2.X Alisaie in the Binding Coil and 4.0 Alisaie in the Sirensong Sea (and in fact every single version of a character appearing in a different location or in a cutscene) are functionally separate NPCs. The NPC that is 4.0 Alisaie never replaces 2.X Alisaie, they simply appear in different places and during different quests. And time-bubble shenanigans are in play as well - you might be seeing the two Alisaies simultaneously, but they do not actually exist simultaneously. You're just somehow interacting with her at two different points in her life at once, until you've resolved the role you were supposed to play in assisting her younger self. The Binding Coil always takes place in the 2.X period, regardless of when you actually play it.

On the other hand, Urianger is the same NPC located at the Waking Sands from 2.X up to 4.4 (or beyond if you leave his quests unfinished), and has to remain constant. The Waking Sands NPC cannot change costume because then if you walked up to him to start your next step in the Binding Coil quest, if it transitioned to a cutscene he'd suddenly be back in his other costume.

For that matter, I don't think NPCs actually *can* change costume, as such. Their character data includes their gear. For a character to change their clothing, I think it would actually mean having a second NPC at the same location and activating it (and deactivating the original NPC) at the appropriate time. And if you did that to a character who has quests attached to them, I think that would mean the quests are still linked with the original NPC and not the replacement.

So you think it is a programming design restriction more than anything else? If that is the case, that is unfortunate.

[Songwillow]

Urianger is in an odd place, time-wise. While most of the Scions are free to move around and be in different locations (and make permanent costume changes), he's had to stay contantly located at the Waking Sands because he has sidequests to give out, and a part to play in the Binding Coil questline.

This would also affect (or rather block) any possibility of a permanent costume change for him - he needs to appear in cutscenes for those quests, and from what I understand of how the game handles cutscenes and NPCs, I don't think they could have it dynamically show him in the correct costume depending on when you complete them. So it would be prettymuch necessary to have him revert to his normal costume.

Yet Alisaie is in her original outfit in Binding Coils of Bahamut, but her and Alphinaud can be seen in their current outfits in Sirensong Sea. I mean I get that they aren't a sidequest giver like Urianger, but I anticipate that most characters have more than one outfit and Urianger just likes to be comfortable in his clothes at the Waking Sands. I don't consider costumes to be absolute since outfits are interchangeable.

A strange tangent but one that has a silly tie to the point. The only thing that seems to be absolute in this game so far is that some characters are not able to be killed off if they featured in both MSQ and another piece of content outside of the MSQ. Examples include certain dungeons and sidequests. Alphinaud, Alisaie, and Lyse are in the Sirensong Sea dungeon (on the ship), Alisaie in Binding Coils of Bahamut, Krile in the Warring Triad arch, Cid in Castrum Meridianum and the Praetorium, Nero, Biggs, and Wedge in Alexander. The sultana is in disguise in one of the saltery quests, making it impossible for her to be killed off. However if it is a character that was exclusively in a dungeon or side quest then they are able to be killed off with no issues. Alexander with Mide or Crystal Tower's G'raha Tia comes to mind. An interesting point is that Yda is not in a side quest or dungeon, but Lyse is, meaning that they won't kill off Lyse but they had no problem waiting to change how Yda would be seen until that point.

There is a weird process to quest making in FFXIV that makes each developer have to ask, "does this event contradict any other content already in the game?" Typically they are good about that where they won't make those contradictions though they won't factor certain events that keep characters away such as Krile or Y'shtola going missing, injured, or comatose due to the MSQ while doing side content. However you will know that a major character is going to stay alive if they are involved in a side quest.

[Iscah]

I don't entirely understand how Y'shtola got to be the mascot in the first place, when there's a specific player-stand-in character (generic Midlander trailer guy) they could use.

I mean, sure, "yay catgirl", but is that really enough to put one out of a group of supposedly-equally-important supporting characters (who has been absent for several chunks of the story) as THE representative of the entire game? Evidently the devs think so, but it seems an odd choice to me.

[Torquil]

I don't entirely understand how Y'shtola got to be the mascot in the first place, when there's a specific player-stand-in character (generic Midlander trailer guy) they could use.

I mean, sure, "yay catgirl", but is that really enough to put one out of a group of supposedly-equally-important supporting characters (who has been absent for several chunks of the story) as THE representative of the entire game? Evidently the devs think so, but it seems an odd choice to me.

What do you call him? You can't call him Warrior of Light because in many of the contexts "mascots" are used (Dissidia, etc) that would clash with the FF1 character. I think it would be hilarious to call him Derplander, but obviously they aren't going to do that.

[Theodric]

Alphinaud's great, though. Out of all of the Scions he undergoes the most drastic and meaningful character development.

[Ramesses]

Alphinaud's great, though. Out of all of the Scions he undergoes the most drastic and meaningful character development.

Brilliantly said, mate... brilliantly said. +1

I've mentioned a few times why I firmly believe Alphinaud is an excellent character... and once again, I'll reiterate that he actually got my respect back when both he and Aliasie helped us during the Coil story arc.

He has gone through his own trials and keeps evolving... even though he is Sensei Louisoix's grandson, he has repeatedly shown fortitude in securing his own achievements on his own rather than using the family name to just get by; and this is something I deeply admire because I can personally identify with that.

His mental perception, temperance and brilliance is exceptional... as I have said once before, he has a kind of Beautiful Mind when it comes to politics and it's great to see his progressive character development.

I honestly wish people would give him more credit.

[Songwillow]

I don't entirely understand how Y'shtola got to be the mascot in the first place, when there's a specific player-stand-in character (generic Midlander trailer guy) they could use.

I mean, sure, "yay catgirl", but is that really enough to put one out of a group of supposedly-equally-important supporting characters (who has been absent for several chunks of the story) as THE representative of the entire game? Evidently the devs think so, but it seems an odd choice to me.

I think it was because of Dissidia. The game needed a face for MMO characters, so they went with NPCs instead of the PCs. In this case it was Shantotto in FFXI and Y'shtola in FFXIV. Honestly I believe that the scions need some good character development.

Urianger was pretty much given an interesting arc which I anticipate us seeing again in Shadow Bringers since I think we will go through what he went through in the Dragonsong/Warriors of Darkness arc.

Alphinaud and Alisaie will both get their time in the expansion and I think it will involve a nice amount of growth for the characters.

Y'shtola has gotten some growth in the last two patches and I think it will get more interesting in the next patch, but I think she will not get much love in the expansion. It is a shame cause she is my favorite scion (especially after the last patch with the Magnai bit)

Thancred looks like he is going to get an interesting story arc finally for the next expansion.

Lyse... well she was more fun as Yda and she is no longer fun after the end of the Dragonsong arc. I have no interest in her anymore.

[Ceasaria]

Y'shtola has gotten some growth in the last two patches and I think it will get more interesting in the next patch, but I think she will not get much love in the expansion. It is a shame cause she is my favorite scion (especially after the last patch with the Magnai bit)

Thancred looks like he is going to get an interesting story arc finally for the next expansion.

Agree for Thancred, Shadowbringers will be his expansion.
For Y'shtola, it will be her moment when Sharlayan will be involved (same for Krile and any character tied to this city).