Building a better Alphinaud

[Raven2014]

I liked him in ARR. I didn't like how he transformed into righteousness.

Uh what? He has always been righteous. In ARR his righteous were obscured a bit by his naiveté so he came across a bit as a snot, but the dude has always been a walking embodiment of righteousness. Probably the most out of all the scions. Always was, always has been. His idea never changed, even before he set foot on Eozea. In fact, we ARE realizing his vision for Eozea from his original thesis that he wrote when Loiusoux was still alive.

[Theodric]

Uh what? He has always been righteous. In ARR his righteous were obscured a bit by his naiveté so he came across a bit as a snot, but the dude has always been a walking embodiment of righteousness. Probably the most out of all the scions. Always was, always has been. His idea never changed, even before he set foot on Eozea. In fact, we ARE realizing his vision for Eozea from his original thesis that he wrote when Loiusoux was still alive.

A shame such a vision isn't limited to Eorzea and is being projected onto Etheirys as a whole.

It strips away a lot of what makes each race and nation within the setting unique.

[Jeeqbit]

Uh what? He has always been righteous. In ARR his righteous were obscured a bit by his naiveté so he came across a bit as a snot, but the dude has always been a walking embodiment of righteousness.

It was probably the voice actor. The old one just did it in a way that didn't feel out of nowhere. Their acting at the end of ARR should win all the awards.

[tokinokanatae]

Alphinaud is my favorite of the two twins and I have no problems with his development such as it is in the game. I've liked him since his introduction as an arrogant little dipstick in ARR, through his journey in Heavensward, and beyond as he settles into a more diplomatic role. I think the game was smart to allow him to take a more subdued position in Stormblood, but I do miss him feeling like he's one of my "core" party members. I have my issues with the Scions in Endwalker, but I think Alisaie's speeches were more egregious than his as far as any complaints I might have.

I am relieved they haven't brought the twins back into the story yet after my Scions overload but I am slowly reaching the point where I'm getting curious about what they've been working on in Garlemald and, when we do see Alphinaud again, I believe it'll be a happy reunion for my WoL.

In short, I don't agree that Alphinaud really needs "fixing" in the first place.

[MoofiaBossVal]

I quite liked ARR-HW Alphinaud, where he was well meaning and sometimes put his foot in his mouth. He was a little in over his head and didn't want to accept the reality of the situation (ie, wanted to believe that Merlwyb would aid the refugees but the fact is that Merlwyb just doesn't have unlimited power and resources and has responsibilities to her people first, or being too trusting of the Crystal Brave recruits). From Stormblood on he becomes less interesting but is still a decent friend character to journey with. I dislike when he is used to speechify.

I think one of the bigger problems that often goes unmentioned is that Alphinaud becomes overshadowed and redundant in ShB and EW with the introduction of the new writer's favorite character, G'raha Tia. He usurps Alphinaud's role as the WoL's young, bookish best friend with the plan. It's telling that G'raha and Alphinaud hardly ever talk together in the same scene because they would just say the exact same lines and the audience would realize that they are just the same character with different voice actors and character designs. I could tell during the ShB patches that Alphinaud was doomed to always live in G'raha's shadow and his best chance for getting anything decent was a death scene. Alphinaud only relevance in EW was his connection to his father and the plot devices he brings along, not Alphinaud the character himself.

If I could rewrite FFXIV to improve Alphinaud, then I would just do the easy fix of merging G'raha into Alphinaud. Have Alphinaud detained in the East for longer so he isn't around when the WoL is gassed and the city states are bombed. He works with the Ironworks to travel to the First and becomes the Crystal Exarch. He crystalizes in 5.3 and that is the end of him. The story isn't dependent on needing a "deuteragonist". The story of the ARR patches and HW focused a lot on Alphinaud but after that it became either very group centric (Stormblood, Endwalker), or on a new character (Crystal Exarch in ShB). So him getting written out of the story isn't the end of the world.

[Renalt]

Frankly after the disbandment of the Scions at the end of EW...that should have been it. New Adventure means new groups to roam with. But no...less than 5 minutes later it's "Hey we should get the gang back together again".

Delete them all I say. Maybe not Estinien. He keeps it real.

[CrownySuccubus]

A shame such a vision isn't limited to Eorzea and is being projected onto Etheirys as a whole.

It strips away a lot of what makes each race and nation within the setting unique.

If you're talking about democratization, then that usually doesn't have anything to do with the Scions or what views they might have. Usually, all the Scions do is eliminate the local dictator and then, the people themselves are the ones who decide how they want to rebuild.

I'd also argue that such a change doesn't really have anything to do with the settings' uniqueness, either. Because if the complaint is that monarchies are all being turned into democracies and that makes them less unique, then that kind of implies that it's gone form one commonality to a different one.

[ameliaw]

Alphinaud peaked in Heavensward for me, I really liked his character back then - he was my favorite character, in fact. Nowadays I find him bland at best and grating at worst.

[Limecat]

We already have one, she's called an Alisae.

[AlyaNimfa]

When I started I remember being told off by multiple people in my FC for hating him right from ARR. It's kinda refreshing to see not everyone is into accepting everything spoon fed to them and loving every single thing.

He's a wuss, he's flakey, he's whiney, he's an all round bad character. I've been hoping he gets written out soon, but I guess the devs love him too much for that.