Ardbert's Party vs the Scions Analysis

[Juyira]

My posts were to TC, not Rulakir.

[Brinne]

My posts were to TC, not Rulakir.

Oh, okay. Yeah, in the game as a whole, by the end of Shadowbringers, things were made pretty crystal clear in terms of intent. Yoshida's "you must explicitly have Thancred call Minfilia his little sister" line when confronting Ranjit was missing in the English script, IIRC, but it was still basically clear by then, I think.

[SannaR]

I when I got to the Krile Thancred bit also didn't clue into that it was a father daughter relationship. Course I had up til meeting the Word of the mother that they were Exes. Who had chosen to stay friends and keep it professional. While Thancred felt like he always never got the right moment to say something to her. When the Krile bit happened I thought that Krile thought it was still on going. During the meeting with the Word of the mother was when I went hmm maybe brother sister or Father daughter. Not til I read the short story did it hit me. I still remember all the people on social media that made "I'm not sure why the devs had to point it out. It was super obvious." type remarks belittle people who did go oh.. Oh... wow after having read the side story. As his reactions to Ryne and still missing Minfillia could have been the same as one to really close friends.

I probably would have clued into how the relationship was if I hadn't been distracted the first time I got to the two scenes I mentioned. First time I had other people distracting me and the 2nd time I had pressure to get back to current at the time.

[Striker44]

Agreed, the main point is that the scions are still a cast with several issues in their writing that should be addressed.

Except this isn't a "point." It's an opinion. One generally not shared by the wider playerbase, which far and away is enjoying the Scions and how they're written. It's okay to have opinions. It's not helpful to claim said opinions as "right" or factual when reality says otherwise.

[Tama-Kanzashi]

Except this isn't a "point." It's an opinion. One generally not shared by the wider playerbase, which far and away is enjoying the Scions and how they're written. It's okay to have opinions. It's not helpful to claim said opinions as "right" or factual when reality says otherwise.

Except you are doing the same thing and stating your "the wider playerbase likes them" as a fact and not just an opinion. Adhere to your own rules please since you cannot prove your claims.

The Scions at this point are a vehicle for marketing, faces you can easily recognize in the game and which will rope in newer players with a feeling of familiarity when they see them in the game.
It's a calculated approach. But by having so many of them and establishing them as their faces for marketing from early on, they maneuvered themselves into a situation where they get reluctant to remove any of them and have a bloated cast of "unkillables."

So there is no point in yelling about "majorities" when the Scions were engineered to rope in new players. It's often not even a genuine love for the Scions, it's a love for a stable environment with familiar faces and little change. A situation with low uncertainty.

[Theodric]

I just like interesting world building. I like stuff like the Dunmer in the Elder Scrolls games. They feel suitably alien and mystical in terms of their appearance, culture, architecture and the sort of creatures to be found throughout their homeland. I was hoping that Sharlayan would tap into that sort of unnerving fantasy aesthetic - instead we just ended up getting the equivalent of a modern day real world university town.

Each to their own, I guess, if they like that sort of thing. Though I prefer my fantasy to be more whimsical and consistent in its world building.

[Avidria]

Man the last few pages are almost enough to make me want to drag myself back through the MSQ again because I always thought Thancred saw Minfilia as like, a daughter lmao. Maybe a little sister at least. Genuinely didn't realize how close they were in age, just assumed Thancred fell into the same bucket of unrealistically pretty men who never age until they're Ancient
And that's even with doing the alchemy quests lol

[Iscah]

Somehow, I doubt they pulled out of showing better visuals of the Sundering just so they'd have their budget for hamburger eating cutscenes.

For whatever reason, they decided to keep it vague and not tell us what happened.

If they were going to show it, they surely would have budgeted for it first and foremost.

Either that or they did make an animation and it fell victim to late changes to the plot and had to be thrown out.

[aveyond-dreams]

Somehow, I doubt they pulled out of showing better visuals of the Sundering just so they'd have their budget for hamburger eating cutscenes.

For whatever reason, they decided to keep it vague and not tell us what happened.

If they were going to show it, they surely would have budgeted for it first and foremost.

Either that or they did make an animation and it fell victim to late changes to the plot and had to be thrown out.

Indeed, I imagine the many forced attempts to portray Venat/Hydaelyn as heroic likely may have had something to do with that.

In any case Endwalker still falls short of the expectations anyone would otherwise have for the sort of story it presented itself as having, and this cast of protagonists isn't helping much. Especially now that the teasing of new characters and storylines hasn't led to much, my anticipation for the future main story is at an all time low. They should know better than to say such things without having any intention of following through with them.

[VelKallor]

In any case Endwalker still falls short of the expectations anyone would otherwise have for the sort of story it presented itself as having, and this cast of protagonists isn't helping much

Thats your opinion alone, and is not one shared by many.

Especially now that the teasing of new characters and storylines hasn't led to much, my anticipation for the future main story is at an all time low. They should know better than to say such things without having any intention of following through with it.

Wouldnt it make sense for you to wait and see what 6.2 brings?

Yes..yes it would.