What's the point with that quite lackluster story in Endwalker?

[CrownySuccubus]

But…it is. He could have just been content with 5.3, dying and watching the scions live on. Instead of moving on and forging ahead though, we instead shove his soul into our Graha. So much for dealing with loss…

Say what? You're upset that someone didn't lay down and die when they had the option to live? Just so that, what? The game can have artificial pathos?

That's probably even more unrealistic. Someone gave Gr'aha the chance to live and he took it. There is no way he is to blame for that.

Which reminds me. That seems like a rather messed up thing to do to young G'raha. Also wasn't he needed inside the tower to keep it shut?

The story makes it clear you can't "do it to" someone. Beq Lugg (sp?) tells you that the transfer will not work if the mind in the host body is too different or rejects the memories.

Gr'aha likewise states that he finds it awkward to have his "older self's" memories, but it's not like he's an unwilling host.

[Lunaxia]

I don’t think EW had G’raha as particularly obsessed with the player character unless you’re, like, mad he joined the Scions and showed up in cut scenes alongside them. Pretty much any interaction with him is optional outside of, again, group cutscenes—where they tend to focus more on his friendship with Alisaie—and his big moment in UT, which was one of the better one of those scenes. (And probably one of the only times we do get focus on his love for the WoL.) Anything else where you walk with him or he has flavor text you can interact with can be skipped by not talking to him.

I feel his presence and adoration of the WoL, not just within 6.0 but the patches surrounding it following SHB, were just forced on the player too frequently, and without any choice for the player to step back and say "okay, can you hold back a bit?" or even display any of the ambivalence we typically show toward biased characters. It feels too juvenile and inappropriate given the weight of the story, and even Alisaie displays a little more restraint and maturity in spite of her feelings despite being younger than a deal younger than him (though I don't exactly have zero problems with her portrayal in Endwalker; the sudden shift of her character at points to some sort of tsundere genki girl was its own problem entirely.)

I do think G’raha suffered somewhat in the immediate aftermath of 5.3 when he was joining the Scions, but overall, I’ve enjoyed his story of trying to relearn who he is without
In the end, G’raha isn’t going to stop liking the WoL and getting excited over the idea of adventuring with them. That’s been a core part of his character since ShB. You can head canon your character being significantly less excited over it than he is, but there’s no reason for him to act like the Exarch now either. He can do many of the things that were impossible dreams for him when he decided to become the Exarch. That’s the point.

And I disagree with the notion that it's realistic or good writing. I find it shallow and strange, and I don't equate expecting him to show more depth and perspective for what he's been through as expecting him to behave exactly like the Exarch. I just struggle to fathom that I'm meant to accept this as understandable/ endearing behaviour from any grown man, let alone one with his experiences:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQx8_ZB59_k

[tokinokanatae]

It’s not as though G’raha cheated death by imbibing the blood of fallen Ascians. The way he got a second lease on life was the way we saved the rest of our friends; it would have been absurd to exclude him from it “just because.” I can mourn the fates of people like Elidibus and Emet-Selch while understanding that the decision to save G’raha and to kill those two characters probably had nothing to do with one another.

[CrownySuccubus]

And I disagree with the notion that it's realistic or good writing. I find it shallow and strange, and I don't equate expecting him to show more depth and perspective for what he's been through as expecting him to behave exactly like the Exarch. I just struggle to fathom that I'm meant to accept this as understandable/ endearing behaviour from any grown man, let alone one with his experiences:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQx8_ZB59_k

I mean, that's still consistent with what we hear about the Exarch. Despite his attempts to be magnanimous and play at being mysterious and aloof, pretty much everybody who knows him in the Crystarium tells you how easily they see through him. You're told he was practically giddy and humming to himself when he finally managed to summon the WOL to the First.

[Xirean]

Gr'aha likewise states that he finds it awkward to have his "older self's" memories, but it's not like he's an unwilling host.

idk, the lack of a conversation where it's explained to him before hand has me really scratching my head on the morality of that action.

[CrownySuccubus]

idk, the lack of a conversation where it's explained to him before hand has me really scratching my head on the morality of that action.

*shrug* I suppose. I kind of had a similar initial thought, but let it go because of what Beq Lugg and Gr'aha tell us.

But fair enough.

[KizuyaKatogami]

Say what? You're upset that someone didn't lay down and die when they had the option to live? Just so that, what? The game can have artificial pathos?

That's probably even more unrealistic. Someone gave Gr'aha the chance to live and he took it. There is no way he is to blame for that.



The story makes it clear you can't "do it to" someone. Beq Lugg (sp?) tells you that the transfer will not work if the mind in the host body is too different or rejects the memories.

Gr'aha likewise states that he finds it awkward to have his "older self's" memories, but it's not like he's an unwilling host.

Not exactly my point. They could have simply said it wouldn’t work on him. Considering the devs themselves stated they had 2 endings planned for 5.3, it stands to reason one of those was indeed him dying, and they chose not to kill him due to fan appeal. That is something i have a major problem with as again, the character has had nothing but bad writing, plot holes, and plot armor attached to him since his re-introduction.

[tokinokanatae]

He’s twenty four years old—which is still extremely young—and the scene is being exaggerated for comedy (and also likely that the engine might just not be up to the task of expressing his desire to go in a more subtle way). The point is that he understands that his duties and promise to Krile come first beyond a non-Badesion excursion—and indeed, when he talks about going on future adventures with us in the aftermath of 6.0, it’s in the context of Baldesion commissions of particular difficulty or interest—but we’ve come here with a personal request for him, so the temptation to drop everything and go is real…

(And again as for that so-called all-consuming obsession with us, the first thing he does is suggest Y’shtola join us, so it’s not like he’s trying to get us alone to have his wicked way with us)

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you personally have to like G’raha or find the scene funny. I’m also not saying there aren’t things to criticize or that the game can’t lean a little too hard into him as a comedy character. I just don’t think it’s a character inconsistency that he’s excitable and loves the idea of exploring shit with someone he admires.

[Rulakir]

(And again as for that so-called all-consuming obsession with us, the first thing he does is suggest Y’shtola join us, so it’s not like he’s trying to get us alone to have his wicked way with us)

A shame. That would've been more interesting. :P

[tokinokanatae]

A shame. That would've been more interesting. :P

My WoL appears to agree, if the agonizingly disappointed look on his face was anything to go by. Or maybe he just hates Y’shtola.