What Forge Ahead Actually Means

[VelKallor]

We know the WoL is going to win in the end, always.

Do we? No.

We didnt know Papalymo would make that sacrifice until the last moment. We had no idea Ysayle would throw herself at that Garlean warship.

We knew we would make it, yes, but we had no idea at Ultima how this would turn out.

[Limecat]

What forging ahead should really be is a system where there's a collectable token you can craft now, that has the requirements of the next unreleased tier of synths. Make it one of those "must be 100% quality" things. Then when that upcoming patch does happen, there's an NPC you can trade the token to for one of the HQ new whatevers.

[Turnintino]

Love 'em or hate 'em, I just wish that more of the main Scions weren't Sharalayan-educated exposition machines lol.

Like, regardless of how the narrative uses them, I just think it'd be nice to... idk... maybe have more than one perspective in the main cast.

We have Estinien, who's just... present. And arguably Thancred, since his education was non-traditional compared to the others -- but other than his role in ShB, the writers tend to treat him as more of a tool than a character. If he's not gathering intelligence for us, he's just kind of there (if he's there at all), contributing nothing. And for that reason, I've never found him particularly interesting/compelling. But it's telling, I think, that he's arguably one of the least redundant Scions, both in terms of perspective and utility, and yet the narrative still rarely takes advantage of that.

I personally love characters like Y'shtola, Urianger, and G'raha, but functionally, they (and the other main Scions -- I didn't list everyone because I'm indifferent to the rest lol) are just different flavors of the same role.

[ronibosch]

I was pretty bored of the Scions by ShB. Now, not only are they outright unkillable and wearing the exact same outfits in EW, they're also voicing trial/raid bosses. The developers know what they're doing and are enjoying every bit of it.

Oh, and you WILL take your 1000th eScape remix and enjoy it. No exceptions.

I thought their excuse for perfectly replicating those outfits in the Source was a bit silly. I laughed the first time I saw that cutscene, especially when it was forgotten about in the next line. Not like the WoL ever cares.

I understand why the Scions have to be around: they're the face of XIV. Too bad they don't do anything interesting with them. At this point, I'd rather travel with Gaius and his crew. Or, find a cure for Arenvald's legs and hang out with him and Fordola. Maybe cross paths with Gosetsu and hang out with him for a bit. (Estinien can join up, too.)

She looks ethereal even in the small icon so you definitely succeeded! I love it! :3 <3 Show us a bigger picture whenever you can if you want! <3

Thank you! I'll make sure to post a pic of her in the near future.

I think the Scions have been shells of their former selves since 6.0 (Maybe a bit earlier). In a way, they seem to have regressed back to their pre-ShB characterization of just being there to say whatever is needed to make the plot move forward and overexplain the themes of the story in case anybody missed it (there are some exceptions, like Urianger. But it also feels like a rehash of previous patterns). Krile is especially guilty of this. She's an almost literal deus ex machina during the entirety of EW.

I definitely wouldn't mind an entirely new cast.

Yeah, I think that's why I feel so indifferent towards them now! They're essentially exposition machines. Oh, Krile...I completely forgot about her presence in the game. I was super disappointed by her role in EW. I guess they needed someone to fit a Minfilia-esque role, now that she is gone.

Yes, I would love a fresh, new cast right now. That, or fleshing out the interesting characters we've met already. Maybe ones we still have tension with (*ahem*Gaius*ahem*). The Scions have become background characters, despite being in the forefront of every MSQ cutscene.

[Kansene]

During HW I was genuinely worried for all the characters.
In EW I knew everyone would make it and there was literally never a moment of doubt.

Same in ShB, except the Thancred scene, that had me for a bit.

[EgilTheStressedMage]

During HW I was genuinely worried for all the characters.
In EW I knew everyone would make it and there was literally never a moment of doubt.

Same in ShB, except the Thancred scene, that had me for a bit.

Thancred should have died there. Any other FF character in any other FF would have died there.

[Kansene]

Thancred should have died there. Any other FF character in any other FF would have died there.

Would've been a better story element imo.
Not because "death = good" but because it had a very solid build-up, it made sense for him to get merced in that situation, it would solidify Ran'Jit as a seriously dangerous villain (how did we go from him soloing wol + all of wol's friends to us soloing him like it's no biggie? Did I miss a story power up?) and it would be a big moment for Ryne to have the kinder of her father figures torn away.
Simply put, Thancred's death would be good drama.
I appreciate that he's still around, I like him, but him dying would be the better story.

[SannaR]

Thancred should have died there. Any other FF character in any other FF would have died there.

Cid from IV would beg to differ. Guy survived a bomb he was carrying and setting off mid fall and said fall. Celes survives a jump off a cliff if you don't feed that game's Cid enough healthy fish in time. Going back to IV Yang survives being thrown off a boat by Leviathan and being at the top of an exploding tower. Along with a frying pan the the head. If you don't believe in the Squall is dead theory he survived falling from Eda's parade float after having an icicle flung into his chest. Cloud survives yet another fall, I swear Square loves the X survives from a fall trope, when Aerith finds him crushing some of the flowers inside her church. Not a main character, but also from VII Dyne is thought to have died after falling from a cliff until they start shooting up the Gold Saucer and Barret gets blamed for it.

[SannaR]

@Avoidy Why expect the Scions to react that way after defeating Hydelean if they didn't react that way after learning she and Zodiark were primals? Or have a bigger reaction after learning the WoL failed to stop the unsealing of Zodiark and that offing them was probably the same result that Fandaniel was going for. Just it now involved the WoL.

[Thenightvortex]

What “forge ahead” means is that it’s time to abandon this cringe game for good, it won’t get better and the devs don’t care about learning from their mistakes.