Building a better Alphinaud

[IkaraGreydancer]

I really enjoyed G'raha in the crystal tower quests, and then in Shadowbringers, he was great as well, but as soon as he came back to the First, it's like they didn't quite know what to do with him, and just said ..."cute cat boi? cute cat boi" and kind of went a little overboard with it imo. There are moments where he shows more of his curiousity/exarch personality in End Walker, but they were a bit too far and few between for me.

i miss the confidence he showed as the crystal exarch in Shadowbringers, it's like he reverted to pre-crystal tower quests maturity level or something.

Eh, they just allowed him to finally be himself. People seems to not forget that he had a huge burden on him being the leader in the First. There was no time for fun or letting his guard down and he has had to keep that up for a very long time. Not to mention him coming from the timeline that he did. To me it just seems he's finally now able to let loose and even better for him he gets to travel with his idol. When it's time to be serious he's 100% serious. He'll even when we disappeared in Garl and "came back" sure he greets us but he wasn't all in our face n such ya know? Speaking of confidence and Garl I'd say his fighting there was pretty badass same for him directing in Radz. Healthy dose of both of his "sides" if you will

[CrownySuccubus]

I really enjoyed G'raha in the crystal tower quests, and then in Shadowbringers, he was great as well, but as soon as he came back to the First, it's like they didn't quite know what to do with him, and just said ..."cute cat boi? cute cat boi" and kind of went a little overboard with it imo. There are moments where he shows more of his curiousity/exarch personality in End Walker, but they were a bit too far and few between for me.

i miss the confidence he showed as the crystal exarch in Shadowbringers, it's like he reverted to pre-crystal tower quests maturity level or something.

Yes, that was the point. The point of G'raha's character in ShB was that the Crystal Exarch was a mask. Just a facade he created in order to enact his plan to save the First and, more importantly, save the life of the person he revered. Throughout the expansion, talking to Lyna along with other people in the Crystarium reveals that none of them quite buy the aloof, wizened attitude that the Exarch puts on but they all love him so much anyway that they figure it's not a big deal. For example, when talking to the townsfolk after the Exarch is kidnapped, they tell you that they'd never seen him so giddy and bouncy in his step as when he finally managed to summon the WOL to the First. I don't remember the exact words, but even G'raha refers to being the Exarch as rather tiring.

The point of the Exarch persona was that G'raha thought he was going to give up his lifelong dreams in the end. Not only was he now an old man with most of his body missing to crystal, but if his plan worked the way he wanted, he'd be sacrificing his life to absorb the WOL's excess light with the WOL believing he was some half-baked "villain" the whole time. Literally all it takes for this facade he's been wearing for 100 years to break is the WOL calling him by his name just before his would-be sacrifice.

G'raha Tia was never the grown-up he pretended to be, and literally being given a new lease on life has allowed him to finally live out his dreams.

Again, all that being said, nobody HAS to like the character or find his immaturity charming. However, it IS the whole point of his tale from 5.0 and beyond.

[Boblawblah]

The point of the Exarch persona was that G'raha thought he was going to give up his lifelong dreams in the end. Not only was he now an old man with most of his body missing to crystal, but if his plan worked the way he wanted, he'd be sacrificing his life to absorb the WOL's excess light with the WOL believing he was some half-baked "villain" the whole time. Literally all it takes for this facade he's been wearing for 100 years to break is the WOL calling him by his name just before his would-be sacrifice.

G'raha Tia was never the grown-up he pretended to be, and literally being given a new lease on life has allowed him to finally live out his dreams.

Again, all that being said, nobody HAS to like the character or find his immaturity charming. However, it IS the whole point of his tale from 5.0 and beyond.

That moment when we call his name tears me up everytime! That said, I disagree with your conclusion that "it IS the whole point". I don't think wringing his hands, eating a burger, and fan service are his personality, he's much more than that imo. Also, "living out his dreams", i don't disgree, but I do think his characterization took a turn for the silly. Too silly for me, but that's okay

[Brinne]

While I think Endwalker used the Scions as a whole poorly, and the specific ins and outs of that can be discussed, Alphinaud good and G’raha good. I hope future storylines use them well and help them shine better than Endwalker was able to. G’raha, in particular, still has a lot of particular avenues to explore that were briefly reflected in his two excellent scenes in EW (taking charge at Thavnair, mixed feelings about it and all, and talking to the Omicron.) I would love to see more of that.

[Raven2014]

I don't think wringing his hands, eating a burger, and fan service are his personality, he's much more than that imo.

And they did show all that too, his knowledge of Allagan, his foresight of using his bloodline, the way he rallied the people of Tharvinar during the crisis like a true leader .etc. In fact, most of his dialogue whenever the Scion have a serious discussion carried a tin of wisdom befitting someone who had lead for 100 years. Are you sure you are not just focusing on what you DON'T like?

At the end of the day it's an MMO, people tend to forget the character get VERY little screentime to portray themselves so most of the time it's necessary for their personality traits to be amped up during the little screentime they got. The amount of screen time an NPC have to themselves in an expansion would fit in one single chapter of a story centric RPG. For Tia he's meant to be a characters with TWO distinct personalities because he's two soul merged into one. The old men who lead half a surviving civilization for 100 year, and the flamboyant scholar (if a bit immature). It's easy to forget the latter is also part of his personality who had never went through the same experience of the former and is also actually the main host of his current body. His character has to show both sides to stay in character, and not severe the connection it has with other NPC like Krile or Tataru, who only know the younger Tia.

[Necrotica]

I really wish we could get a new cast of support NPCs. We have had to deal with these ones long enough. Those that like them have new game + to play with them over and over again. Those who do not like them deserve a chance at better companions.

[Theodric]

I really wish we could get a new cast of support NPCs. We have had to deal with these ones long enough. Those that like them have new game + to play with them over and over again. Those who do not like them deserve a chance at better companions.

I think a healthy balance can be struck though that can't happen until more of an effort is made to bring some genuine variety to the table with characters that appeal to a broader range of players and have different world views that actually challenge each other to do more than just convert everyone to the same stance or have only surface level disagreements.

Fordola's cynical streak is an excellent example of something I'd like to see more of. More stoic men who are driven and no nonsense would be nice to see, too - especially if they have some testosterone, are classically or ruggedly handsome and are allowed to be a little rough around the edges.

[CrownySuccubus]

I think a healthy balance can be struck though that can't happen until more of an effort is made to bring some genuine variety to the table with characters that appeal to a broader range of players and have different world views that actually challenge each other to do more than just convert everyone to the same stance or have only surface level disagreements.

Fordola's cynical streak is an excellent example of something I'd like to see more of. More stoic men who are driven and no nonsense would be nice to see, too - especially if they have some testosterone, are classically or ruggedly handsome and are allowed to be a little rough around the edges.

As I've said before, "classically handsome" means different things based on different cultures, time periods, etc.

Besides that, this sounds pretty much exactly like what we got in the final role quest, where we had a group that included Aymeric, Hien and Nero, who all had their own different ideas and political views on what the Garleans should do.

[aveyond-dreams]

As I've said before, "classically handsome" means different things based on different cultures, time periods, etc.

Besides that, this sounds pretty much exactly like what we got in the final role quest, where we had a group that included Aymeric, Hien and Nero, who all had their own different ideas and political views on what the Garleans should do.

And my goodness wouldn't it have been nice if we had a party as diverse as them instead of a bunch white-haired scholars who nod and agree with each other on everything.

[Theodric]

As I've said before, "classically handsome" means different things based on different cultures, time periods, etc.

Besides that, this sounds pretty much exactly like what we got in the final role quest, where we had a group that included Aymeric, Hien and Nero, who all had their own different ideas and political views on what the Garleans should do.

I'm mostly concerned with the Japanese, European and American takes on what 'classically handsome' and 'ruggedly handsome' mean rather than what it means based on obscure cultures or different time periods. Those who want to hyper focus on that sort of thing and push for it are more than welcome to do so. I'm sure most people are well aware of what I mean when requesting for at least one of our close companions to look like Gladio, Basch, Jecht or Snow. I find the general aesthetics and character design to be far more agreeable in FFVIIR and many of the more recent and modern single player titles, personally.

As for the final role quest, it's a step in the right direction but it's hidden away in side content locked behind yet more side content and that sort of dynamic is rarely present in the MSQ's which makes up the meat of the game. It also didn't really commit to actually having diverse viewpoints since it honed in on the very one that the protagonists would benefit from and support the most. To say nothing of handling Nerva poorly and not even giving us an Echo flashback of what he looked like before his corrupted state.

And my goodness wouldn't it have been nice if we had a party as diverse as them instead of a bunch white-haired scholars who nod and agree with each other on everything.

Agreed. Another issue is many of our allies are world leaders or are otherwise just tied down to a particular location and can't travel easily with our character for more than a brief period of time. Now that we're supposedly going back to being an adventurer, however, there's ample room to...just cross paths with other adventurers who are a bit different to the usual offerings. A brutish but well meaning Xaela or Raen guy would be my pick.