It feels like NPCs in side quests are too nice and reasonable

[Aidorouge]

Did you ever do that quest where some dude has a harem of poachers and basically holds that girl's older sister hostage and there's literally nothing you can do?

Oh, I do, and I've enjoyed gutting him (or rather watching other people gut him due to the Yokai Watch event) every time the FATE spawns.

[Hasrat]

Early on, at least, I believe the lore is that side quests are essentially people petitioning the local adventurer's guild for assistance. That kinda predisposes them to being nice and reasonable, I'd say, else they wouldn't be asking for help in the first place.

[HappyHubris]

This is also a MSQ issue.

"Bob is 110% against our plan, which contradicts his entire worldview."
*Scion gives a 15-second speech*
"Bob will now die for our plan, as needed."

The scions can never be wrong or show sustained negative emotion and you must also get your way for gameplay reasons, so everyone hugs by the end of a quest.

[Sjol]

This is also a MSQ issue.

"Bob is 110% against our plan, which contradicts his entire worldview."
*Scion gives a 15-second speech*
"Bob will now die for our plan, as needed."

The scions can never be wrong or show sustained negative emotion and you must also get your way for gameplay reasons, so everyone hugs by the end of a quest.

Other games have managed for the protagonist to be wrong, though and show negative emotions. It does require an extreme suspension of disbelief for people who have been generational enemies to suddenly be like, "well because you brought me soup AND talked to me for 30 seconds, I'm now a diehard fan and will go against my own people". It really is ridiculous how quickly people change their mind to support you. I would kind of love to find out that some people who were agreeable were talking bad about us behind our backs because they're afraid we'll murder them. That would at least be more realistic.

[Ancalagon_Blacktalon]

This is also a MSQ issue.

"Bob is 110% against our plan, which contradicts his entire worldview."
*Scion gives a 15-second speech*
"Bob will now die for our plan, as needed."

The scions can never be wrong or show sustained negative emotion and you must also get your way for gameplay reasons, so everyone hugs by the end of a quest.

where were you during literally any scene with thancred in shadowbringers

[HappyHubris]

where were you during literally any scene with thancred in shadowbringers

Honestly, it's been a while since I did that content, but it's funny that you have to go back five years for an example.

[Sjol]

where were you during literally any scene with thancred in shadowbringers

The MSQ generally doesn't have the problem I'm talking about which is why I was just talking about side quests.

[Ancalagon_Blacktalon]

Honestly, it's been a while since I did that content, but it's funny that you have to go back five years for an example.

heh I had been going through my screencaps recently looking for the old DRG meter and I had taken just, so many ShB screencaps at that time. Got to basically speedrun the story through File Explorer xD

But yeah we've had multiple points where the scions have absolutely screwed up. The one of course that everyone remembers is the Crystal Braves, but also:
- Urianger almost getting us killed by the Warrior of Darkness
- the scions trying and failing to get the ala mhigan resistance to do anything other than be cannon fodder for the first half of StB
- ...most of shadowbringers (yshtola grilling urianger about how absolutely screwed we are behind our backs is very spicy)

It could be argued that in Endwalker, everyone is very busy trying to not die, and yes in real life crisis situations people tend to shut up and work together regardless. I would argue that the way the Garleans were handled probably could've been better on the scions' part - no good plan ends with having your diplomats wearing bomb collars on them.

this is a sidetrack tho. To be honest I actually haven't done most of the "yellow" sidequests yet, which was why I had mentioned on the first page something that had bugged me about other RPGs I had played.

[HappyHubris]

That's fair. I just notice a lot more "someone is being unreasonable->oh OK they're 110% on board" content than "scions screw up->external party corrects them."

[Sjol]

But yeah we've had multiple points where the scions have absolutely screwed up. The one of course that everyone remembers is the Crystal Braves, but also:
- Urianger almost getting us killed by the Warrior of Darkness
- the scions trying and failing to get the ala mhigan resistance to do anything other than be cannon fodder for the first half of StB
- ...most of shadowbringers (yshtola grilling urianger about how absolutely screwed we are behind our backs is very spicy)

Being wrong and failing and being humbled is part of the classic heroes journey and I really liked those parts. I like it when my character fails from time to time. It mirrors my own motivation to succeed after failing.

Centuries of story show us success without failure is boring. If the writing is serving the characters instead of the characters serving the story then you can call it good marketing but you would be hard-pressed to call it good writing.