What was the purpose of the Yda twist?

[totalimmortal]

the majority of ffxiv's storytelling is built upon retcons and retroactive recontextualization (often in response to fan reaction). this, combined with there being about 50,000 writers on the team, means inconsistencies and shoddy quality is bound to be afoot.

[Yuella]

I wonder if it's better if they kept Yda and make Hien the up and coming young leader who needed to learn (the Lyse role). He could be the one who came to Eorzea instead of Gosetsu in 3.55 and we could spend the first half of Stormblood in Ala Mhigo before going to Doma and end 4.0 in Doma.

[Lady_Silvermoon]

I wonder if it's better if they kept Yda and make Hien the up and coming young leader who needed to learn (the Lyse role). He could be the one who came to Eorzea instead of Gosetsu in 3.55 and we could spend the first half of Stormblood in Ala Mhigo before going to Doma and end 4.0 in Doma.

Given the way their revolution was framed, fighting and dying to put Hien in charge and having him being an annoying ditz would have had people complaining on these forums to no end. Plus, that would still leave the issue of what to do with Yda now that Papalymo was gone. It had to be her. I just don't get why they made her a new character given her starting place character wise was about the same. At least as far as I could tell as someone who didn't play 1.0 and started in Ul'dah with Thancred.

Even with all the possible suggestions as to why she became her sister, the cynic in me is thinking they just wanted to change her hairstyle. But I am willing to accept she was just too goofy to end up a world leader without secretly being a different person.

[Cleretic]

I wonder if it's better if they kept Yda and make Hien the up and coming young leader who needed to learn (the Lyse role). He could be the one who came to Eorzea instead of Gosetsu in 3.55 and we could spend the first half of Stormblood in Ala Mhigo before going to Doma and end 4.0 in Doma.

I don't think this makes much sense, because Yda is, to be blunt, an idiot.

Like I said, they needed to do some character renovations on her to make her a viable serious main character. To make her the mentor you have to convert Yda from a ditzy joke character to a genuine experienced figure with stuff to teach, which is extremely big a reach even if it's a character with the same name. The direction they went is a much more plausible step: we go from 'ditzy joke side-character' to 'eager but inexperienced freedom fighter', which actually makes a lot of sense. It replaces a lot of the 'surface' presentation elements of her character that feasibly could come from a change in worldview or outward presentation, but keeps core parts that wouldn't have been easily changed/faked/hidden.

[Brightamethyst]

I don't think this makes much sense, because Yda is, to be blunt, an idiot.

Like I said, they needed to do some character renovations on her to make her a viable serious main character. To make her the mentor you have to convert Yda from a ditzy joke character to a genuine experienced figure with stuff to teach, which is extremely big a reach even if it's a character with the same name.

Yda is a Sharlayan archon. Ditzy she may be, but an idiot? No.

[Tsiron]

The real Yda, yeah. Lyse isn't an archon

[LilimoLimomo]

I never understood why Yda became Lyse from a story perspective. Couldn't Yda have just taken off her mask and done the things Lyse did without the twist? Given our player never met the original Yda and the other Scions were just pretending, what did the twist change/add?

My best guess: They decided that the story they wanted to tell required a protagonist that was angsty and impatient. For whatever reason, they decided that was going to be Yda. But Yda is an optimistic goofball. So they had to find an explanation for why her personality did an extreme 180 turn. And "I've been pretending to be my dead sister" was what they settled on.

In my subjective opinion, it was an uninteresting choice, a twist without substance, one that killed two characters I liked and replaced them with the worst character in the game.

[Tsiron]

Don't have any proof or anything, but I wouldn't be surprised if the protagonist of SB was planned to be Minfilia at one point (early) in development, before... yeah. It would've made sense I think given what we learn of her backstory in 1.0 (her father having been a spy for the resistance), and Lyse's red dress looks almost like a do-over of her ARR outfit...

[Vyrerus]

Everyone's pretty much answered this as best it can be answered, but I'll drop my 2 cents anyway.

It was the easiest way for them to bring in a new character without technically killing an older one. I mean, part of the reveal is that the real Yda had died many years prior off screen. But the Lyse transmutation of the current "Yda" that happened on screen was one of the first times they've replaced a character without killing/seeming to kill a character.

If you weren't around or don't remember, when the Stormblood trailer first came out, it showed the WoL on Monk sparring with a woman in a red dress. Of course, we know now this was Lyse in Yda's old ornamental Ala Mhigan outfit. But back then, theories flew everywhere about who this was, and a lot of people settled on that it was Yda but somehow her Archon tats were gone. People also were cocksure that she wasn't just a Monk but was a Dancer.

It's very much what Moose put forward. They wanted to tell a story revolving around a young, pretty Ala Mhigan native girl who was old enough to be touched by the Garlean occupation but too young to have done anything about it. To be our native stranger who understands all the customs and traditions but has never lived by them. As the narrative setup for reclaiming Ala Mhigo, she also has to reclaim her heritage.

Can't really do that with a 40 something MILF who has more experience than almost the entire cast and all of the Ala Mhigan Resistance to boot. Of course, I wouldn't have hated that. *pushes index fingers together*

Of course, all narrative rationale aside, you should know these XIV devs by now. They've made it their mission in life to subvert expectations, and even when they actually fail to do that, they still like to act like they did.

Cause I mean, the majority of folks got it right. The girl in the trailer was, "Yda." The one we know. But XIV dev team got to play into their favorite fetish when they revealed she was actually Lyse.

Yes, that's right, our lead XIV dev is something of a loveable dumb ass.

[Anonymoose]

But back then, theories flew everywhere about who this was

It's Yda!

It's Yda's sister!

No, it's Yda!

No, it's Yda's sister!

[Yda is Yda's sister.]

[collective dumbfounded silence]