Yotsuyu, Fordola, syndrom of "a good writting"? (spoil)

[ObsidianFire]

I'm with ChaoticCrimson on this. On paper, I like how all of these characters work. I like Lyse just fine as the character SB was trying to make her be. In fact, I'd say she more a victim of fandom hate for a character she isn't even trying to be then anything else at this point. Fordola is a great "stuck in the middle of two cultures with no good options" character. Yotsuyu is one of the few characters I've seen who does the amnesia tropes well. I like that in the end she gets her revenge on the people who really did make her life hell (her aunt, uncle and cousin) while it's made obvious that how she got mad and took it out on the rest of Doma wasn't right.

Unfortunately, Stormblood's overall pacing, especially in 4.0, was really bad. The writers tried to cram too much plot into the expansion so they could get to 5.0. The characterization of many of the characters, not just these three, suffered from that a lot. I never felt like we got a long enough time spent anywhere unless I slowed down and did sidequests. Taken out of the rushed plot, many of the characters work a lot better. The rest of the 4.x series doesn't feel so rushed compared to 4.0, so the characterization feels a lot better.

[Bright-Flower]

Some things to consider.

1. Yes some ala mhigans like Ilberd and his followers did some very bad things. However, most of these people were driven to the edge after 20 years of a brutal occupation. They were desperate. That doesn't excuse everything they did, but there's more to it than 'they were just bad people' as well.

2. Not all of them are like that. The ones that followed Ilberd in particular were almost all wiped out at Baelsar's wall and the resistance faction we work with didn't support or condone what Ilberd did. There are plenty of good ala mhigan characters we meet in Stormblood. Saying that 'ala mhigans aren't nice people' as a whole is like saying 'Ishgardian's aren't nice people' as a whole.

For Yotsuyu, she would have been a decent enough arc villain I guess if they'd just killed her in Doma Castle. But I hated her story in 4.2 and 4.3 so much with the cheap amnesia bs that I wish they hadn't brought her back at all. The only good thing I have to say about her arc in 4.2 and 4.3 is that she took Asahi with her. I'm sorry but having a character introduced as coercing innocent villagers into murdering each other is going to need more than a tragic backstory to make me entertain the idea of redeeming them or feeling sorry for them like it felt like 4.3 wanted me to do. Yotsuyu had the potential to be a GREAT character but they handled her so poorly her story is the worst part of the entire msq from 2.0 to 4.5 for me.

[Edax]

I'm with ChaoticCrimson on this. On paper, I like how all of these characters work. I like Lyse just fine as the character SB was trying to make her be. In fact, I'd say she more a victim of fandom hate for a character she isn't even trying to be then anything else at this point. Fordola is a great "stuck in the middle of two cultures with no good options" character. Yotsuyu is one of the few characters I've seen who does the amnesia tropes well. I like that in the end she gets her revenge on the people who really did make her life hell (her aunt, uncle and cousin) while it's made obvious that how she got mad and took it out on the rest of Doma wasn't right.

Unfortunately, Stormblood's overall pacing, especially in 4.0, was really bad. The writers tried to cram too much plot into the expansion so they could get to 5.0. The characterization of many of the characters, not just these three, suffered from that a lot. I never felt like we got a long enough time spent anywhere unless I slowed down and did sidequests. Taken out of the rushed plot, many of the characters work a lot better. The rest of the 4.x series doesn't feel so rushed compared to 4.0, so the characterization feels a lot better.

The very start of Heavenward was genius. It reduced all the characters down to the Warrior of Light, Tataru Taru and Alphinaud before introducing new characters.

Some things to consider.

1. Yes some ala mhigans like Ilberd and his followers did some very bad things. However, most of these people were driven to the edge after 20 years of a brutal occupation. They were desperate. That doesn't excuse everything they did, but there's more to it than 'they were just bad people' as well.

2. Not all of them are like that. The ones that followed Ilberd in particular were almost all wiped out at Baelsar's wall and the resistance faction we work with didn't support or condone what Ilberd did. There are plenty of good ala mhigan characters we meet in Stormblood. Saying that 'ala mhigans aren't nice people' as a whole is like saying 'Ishgardian's aren't nice people' as a whole.

For Yotsuyu, she would have been a decent enough arc villain I guess if they'd just killed her in Doma Castle. But I hated her story in 4.2 and 4.3 so much with the cheap amnesia bs that I wish they hadn't brought her back at all. The only good thing I have to say about her arc in 4.2 and 4.3 is that she took Asahi with her. I'm sorry but having a character introduced as coercing innocent villagers into murdering each other is going to need more than a tragic backstory to make me entertain the idea of redeeming them or feeling sorry for them like it felt like 4.3 wanted me to do. Yotsuyu had the potential to be a GREAT character but they handled her so poorly her story is the worst part of the entire msq from 2.0 to 4.5 for me.

It illustrators the point of why Fordona would not commit to the Ala Mhigan cause if so many of the people were a bunch of predatory thugs. Note that a lynch mob forms to try and murder a defenceless Fordona as well and so many got blood on their hands for stoning Fordona's father to death. Sure, not all of them are like such as Raubahn, but the story has shown us that most of Ala Mhigans are like this. Even before the Empire occupied Ala Mhigo and made them desperate, the lore says it was an aggressive nation, invading Eorzea. Would you fight for these people? At the very least in Heavensward, there were houses and factions that took side within Ishgard. There was actual politics in the city. All that stopped Fordona from being lynched were main characters that didn't live in Ala Mhigo. Can you name a political faction in Ala Mhigo beyond "The Resistance"?

[Cybylt]

Some things to consider.

1. Yes some ala mhigans like Ilberd and his followers did some very bad things. However, most of these people were driven to the edge after 20 years of a brutal occupation. They were desperate. That doesn't excuse everything they did, but there's more to it than 'they were just bad people' as well.

2. Not all of them are like that. The ones that followed Ilberd in particular were almost all wiped out at Baelsar's wall and the resistance faction we work with didn't support or condone what Ilberd did. There are plenty of good ala mhigan characters we meet in Stormblood. Saying that 'ala mhigans aren't nice people' as a whole is like saying 'Ishgardian's aren't nice people' as a whole.

Look back a bit further than the past 20 years and you have the despotic rule of Theodoric. As lesser nobles, Fordola's family would have been on the chopping block real soon as he continually expanded who he thought would usurp him. Of course they were going to find Garlean rule preferable to the guy in charge is actively trying to kill us. Garlemald didn't even have to remove places of worship, Theodoric took care of that for them since in his insane paranoia he went to war with the state religion. The royal guard became a band of cut-throats for hire and then highwaymen who assaulted and robbed refugees, their own people, as they made their escape when the king was taken out.

Fordola is 19, we were maybe 5 years into occupation when the people found it reasonable to try to kill toddlers in the streets of the capital. And that's under Gaius, a man who completely buys into colonies ability to rise up and self-regulate. When we get there we see life under Zenos, whose entire MO is to ramp up oppressive measures until the locals fight back for kicks.

Ala Mhigo has a long history of aggression, they were the enemy nation that the original Eorzean Alliance was founded to defend its members against. Ala Mhigo was being cut out of trade because of seafaring trade taking off, so they did the completely reasonable thing of try to violently annex Gridania and this appears to be why the Elementals refuse the settlement of many of them to this day.

These were a people full of aggressive, unearned pride and the whole point of the Skulls was to drag them kicking and screaming into a better world since lashing out was all their history paints them as being able to do.

[Cybylt]

I think another thing that really singles out the level of hopelessness and indoctrination to the idea that Garlemald will always rule is that random teens not even in the army or anything, complete noncombatants, attacked the Warrior of Light AFTER several major wins for the Resistance including the liberation of Doma to try to appease their rulers.

[waifugenerator]

I actually loved Fordola's character and found myself sympathizing with her. I hope she's reintroducing into the story now that Gaius has made his return. I'm liking the sounds of their father/daughter dynamic that the MSQ hinted at.

[Theodric]

I actually loved Fordola's character and found myself sympathizing with her. I hope she's reintroducing into the story now that Gaius has made his return. I'm liking the sounds of their father/daughter dynamic that the MSQ hinted at.

...let's just hope it isn't the same sort of father/daughter dynamic that Gaius had with Livia!