Building a better Alphinaud

[CrownySuccubus]

Characters were visually distinct, had different origins/contrasting personalities that set them apart from each other and made for interesting and entertaining interactions.

Well, let me start with the caveat that none of these things are objective qualities which make a cast of characters better or worse than each other. In FFX, for example, there are only two characters in the main cast who are not "pretty young people" (Auron and Kimahri), and only one (maybe two) whose journey is not "help Yuna on her pilgrimage" (Rikku and technically Auron).

That being said, if this is the metric you're using, then I can also argue that the FFXIV cast at least doesn't rely upon jokes and physical slapstick for most of its character charm, which is the case of HALF of FFIX's cast. For example, Steiner was a repeated victim of this starting with the second cinematic cutscene he's featured in. Likewise, Amarant's entire character arc comes from one cutscene in which he's the butt of the joke, and then a second cutscene in which he learns The Power of Friendship. Eiko's entire character is "haha isn't it funny that this little girl is sexually harassing the main character the way he does other women?". And then there's Quina, whose entire character is just a gag.

The exceptions to the above, of course, are Zidane, Garnet, Vivi and Freya, whose characters are fully fleshed out without relying on gimmicks to do it. But, when that accounts for only HALF of your cast, then something's wrong.


Where the cast of FFXIV has an advantage over DA:O is that their personalities are not entirely dependent upon the protagonist either kissing up to them (sometimes literally) or treating them like dirt. The main weakness of any Bioware game (or ones like it) is that the characters are sometimes less their own people and more dress-up dolls for the player to turn into whatever function they want. No one fits this description more than Morrigan, who goes from seductive vamp to tragically in love with her mark depending on whether or not you slept with her and gave her some gifts. (This isn't even getting into her development later in DA:I, where she's a kinder, gentler person no matter what you chose.)

Now, the fact that most characters can leave you depending on what choices you make is interesting, but it also ultimately limits their growth (aside from the popular ones, like Leliana, Alistair and Morrigan, who manage to have major roles in later games even if you kill the former and separate from the latter two). Wynne, Oghren, and Shale don't really matter in the end and, likewise, are basically never mentioned again after Awakening, and Zevran is reduced to a War Table mention in DA:I at best. Alistair, like Leliana and Morrigan, is popular enough that he manages to return in other games (unless he becomes a drunken vagabond), and is probably the most dynamic character in the entire series.

And then there's Dog....who's a dog. (He is, however, a VERY good boy. Yes he is!)


Frankly, there's a lot to like about all three casts. Despite my prior harshness to the FFIX cast, they are one of my favorites in the series. However, taking this to personal analysis for a moment, just because I like something doesn't mean I don't see its flaws (and the inverse), and the number of playthroughs I have of DA:O says more about how interesting I find that game, too. But at the same time, I can see a lot of things to like about the cast of FFXIV -- even Lyse, who is probably the Scion (past or present) I like the least, is still interesting enough to me to want to see where her story goes. I can't say the same thing about Shale or Oghren or Zevran. Or Amarant or Eiko or Quina. I don't have anything specifically against any of them...they're just inconsequential. It doesn't matter how "varied" they are or from how many different walks of life they're from. Those factors are not the final arbiters of character quality.