[Spoilers] Noble Sacrifices (and the lack thereof)

[Kiba_Whitewolf]

Can we take a few moments to discuss how much Square seems to be holding its punches with the main characters? Since early Stormblood they have had a habit of putting the main cast into mortally wounded and/or Noble Sacrifice situations that consistently have zero consequence shortly after. This works well as a storytelling trope, but they just keep doing it and it has reached the point where any time a main character is put into danger I, as the viewer, do not feel a thing as I know they will stand right back up in 5 minutes.

Here are some major examples that I can recall:

Y'shtola nearly cut in half by Zenos
Gosetsu has a building collapse on him
Y'shtola falls into seemingly bottomless pit
Thancred fending off Ran'jit
Ryne taking a seemingly mortal blow from Emet; they even have a slow motion effect on this one for emphasis

On a side note, remember how Y'shtola's use of aethersight was slowly killing her in HW and hasn't been brought up since?

I love these characters as I am sure most of you do, but I am tired of these moments having so little meaning. The Thancred one in particular for this expansion really ruined his entire hero moment for me.

[Jaywalker]

In fairness it seems like they are finally sticking with Minfilia along with Papalymo and Ysayle and Haurchefant. Extreme near death situations in a setting where people are defying the laws of physics dragoon style is pretty fair imo, it’s when things cross into “they were confirmed dead and now through weird inconsistencies in worldbuilding that would not apply otherwise they are back” that I figure it’s a problem. On Y’shtola, give ‘em time.

[Dualblade]

The patch series of this xpac will probably be when they finally get back to Y'shtola's use of aethersight given she got caught in the lifestream for a second time. Personally I'm thinking it'll end up being "cured" but she'll also end up stuck on the First. At least thats what it seems to be set up.

[Jaywalker]

The patch series of this xpac will probably be when they finally get back to Y'shtola's use of aethersight given she got caught in the lifestream for a second time. Personally I'm thinking it'll end up being "cured" but she'll also end up stuck on the First. At least thats what it seems to be set up.

Ooooo that could be really interesting tbh. As long as her survival comes with a tangible and serious cost figure that’ll be okay? If it got handwaved away with no cost that would be cheap.

[Kiba_Whitewolf]

They do seem to be heavily hinting that Y'shtola and maybe even Urianger might stick around on the First. I could see Thancred staying for Ryne too.

[Dualblade]

They do seem to be heavily hinting that Y'shtola and maybe even Urianger might stick around on the First. I could see Thancred staying for Ryne too.

Thancred is another possibility, but Urianger is one I see coming back. Twins for sure will.

Feo will be in our heart. Also when we call her cause she totally could follow us. I wish SE would even though they won't.

On Sacrifices and all that: SE (and before then just Square) does this a lot. FF4 is a great example where multiple main characters make sacrifices but only one of them actually dies, everyone else manages to survive one way or another. Hell some of them pull off multiple heroic sacrifices!

[Eclair_Xysha]

I dont wish death upon anyone really and I'm glad it wasnt Tia this time around because I really did liked him.... If anything, I think Y'shtola will be next due to her time in the lifestream. Bringing her back made her lose her actual sight, and she did go back a second time even if its for a very short while. Thank you Hades for bringing her back effortlessly btw... But Matoya from the Source did say that Yshtola cannot keep going back or else she will forever get stuck and her body will die etc etc.... So Yshtola might be next... who knows... Or it could be Ryne that is next because there will always be another Minfilia if the other one dies.

[Gaethan_Tessula]

While this trend does bug me overall, I never saw the scene after Thancred's fight with Ran'jit as a death flag. Rather, it seemed metaphorical for the "death" of his hope in Minfilia surviving. The moment when he finally, fully, comes to term with her death.

When he fell, it seemed a mix of exhaustion and acceptance. That plus the tone of the "I'm glad to have been part of your life" line made me pretty sure he wasn't going to die.

Thancred needed to be there at the end too, for the compare-contrast of his dilemma as a microcosm for that experienced by the ancients.

[Ilenya]

I personally saw that as SE referencing how much they like messing with the playerbase on the X7 levels. Haurchefaunt, Gosetsu, now Thancred. Who do you think they'll toy with at 87?

[Fenral]

Oh, this again. Welcome to Final Fantasy. Please enjoy your stay. As you may be just now discovering, early FFXIV was the exception, and not the rule.

Final Fantasy XIV's expansions seem to be following the tonal progression of the larger series (excluding FF1, in which nobody dies period thanks to time loop shenanigans). Heavensward was in line with Final Fantasy II, with a bleak war story and many sacrifices made (Moenbryda, Haurchefant, Ysayle, and Papalymo's deaths all have FFII parallels). Stormblood was roughly in line with FFIII, most notably having a "major" sacrifice being undone to dramatic effect. And that brings us to Shadowbringers, which seems to have fit the FFIV pattern of many sacrifices, but few if any fatal.

If the pattern holds, we can expect exactly one major death in 6.0, and it will happen in an RP instance where we keep fighting at 0 HP... And then 7.0 will, at long last, have a party member body count of 0 (though the Ninja will cut it close).


Honestly, I was never in it for the body count, and if you aren't invested enough in the characters to share in their struggles and rejoice in their survival, maybe Final Fantasy isn't for you.