The Next Expansion cycle needs 2 things. 1) A Break from the Scions and 2)Time Skip

[Daralii]

God no, Y'Shtola has fallen into deus ex machina territory, she just gets wheeled out to be a magic genius and mcguffin fix everything WAAAAAY too much these days. If they want to keep her for the fans they need to get her writing under control (I don't object to her personality).

EDIT: The problem with the Scions is that ALL of them have had their development arcs, they are complete characters who don't need any further exploration, indeed further "development" might harm the existing character. Some like Thancred and Estinien are literally at writing-retirement stage. The only two Scions who could still be really truly further developed as people are Krile and Alisaie, even Alphinaud has done his full arc. I'm all for cameos or even semi-regular drop-ins from other Scions but we need some fresh blood. I would kill to see Makoto replace Y'shtola and another fighter/rogue added to the group, not just more mages.

I'd kind of like to see Kagura(Mikoto's twin sister) show up, though from how she's described in the field notes it'd run the risk of being a rehash of Alphinaud and Alisaie, just 8 years older.

[Vyrerus]

The people constantly pushing to de-emphasize the Scions last expansion in favor of seeing fresh faces was what got us WL as our new proxy main character in this one. Sometimes you don't realize how good you had it until it's gone.

Nope. Those people wanted emphasis redirected onto already existing characters. Not the new writer's original OC(do not steal!).

[JMadFour]

Rather than make a new thread, I just want to say that I still believe in this.

here's to a Scion-less 8.0.

send us to another Reflection, alone.

No Scions.

No Graha.

No Wuk Lamat.

Nobody from The Source.

Let us have a new adventure with a new adventuring crew made out of people native to the Reflection we go to.

[HeyMcFly]

I need my Thancred romance and I need it now!

[Keumjo]

I need my Thancred romance and I need it now!

I was just telling my friend the other day that I would love it if ANYONE got some kind of romance. They'll never let us have one, but side character romances are some of my favorites in media. Let the Scions lives continue, especially if they have less focus in our future adventures. Let them grow in some kind of way, doesn't even have to be a romance. Show me they have a life outside of us. Let those, "it's been awhile" moments feel like it's actually been awhile.

Send us somewhere new, introduce us to some new flirts and personalities. As much as I found Zenos to be annoying, his constant obsession with us at least made me feel interactive with his moments on screen more. Give us more cheeky responses in our dialogue so we get the illusion of personality.

Or, more realistically, I should just take a break from Kdramas and Webtoons, too many hopes and expectations for interpersonal drama moments in this game.

[Haru304]

The inclusion of the Scions in Dawntrail and their presentation felt so devoid of soul compared to the character writing in Shadowbringers.

One decently written moment with Graha Tia. That's literally it.

[Auro_Seldaris]

I dunno why people are trying to push the "retire the scions" narrative thing because I legitimately hate it
we still have scions who could use more characterization even. Krile, who got kinda shafted in DT, let us bring Graha on more adventures LIKE WE PROMISED HIM, the scions B team at the rising stones, Clive, Mikoto, etc.
hell, Yshtola could use some more spotlight too in all honesty
the Scions are our JRPG party members, I would not replace them at all.

People like to complain that Y'shtola is uninteresting. I always have to remind them that she's actually barely been IN the story.

ARR? She's only 1 of 3 possible paths.
Heavensward? Spends most of the expansion in the Lifestream.
Stormblood? Spends most of the expansion half-dead in the hospital.
Shadowbringers? Spends like a third of it innawoods.
Endwalker was actually the first time in years she was actually around for most of the story arc.
Don't worry, they fixed that in Dawntrail, she shows up for two scenes, literally phones in her lines, and then just... "Scions" in the background, like all the other Scions.

It's little wonder she has no real focus, she's been half-dead or missing for most of the game's life cycle so far.

[Hallarem]

I was just telling my friend the other day that I would love it if ANYONE got some kind of romance. They'll never let us have one, but side character romances are some of my favorites in media. Let the Scions lives continue, especially if they have less focus in our future adventures. Let them grow in some kind of way, doesn't even have to be a romance. Show me they have a life outside of us. Let those, "it's been awhile" moments feel like it's actually been awhile.

Send us somewhere new, introduce us to some new flirts and personalities. As much as I found Zenos to be annoying, his constant obsession with us at least made me feel interactive with his moments on screen more. Give us more cheeky responses in our dialogue so we get the illusion of personality.

Or, more realistically, I should just take a break from Kdramas and Webtoons, too many hopes and expectations for interpersonal drama moments in this game.

This is what I've been saying, a lot of the Final Fantasies have romance in them, but the MSQ so far has had none? We could use some side-characters or MSQ characters smooching it up. Heck, maybe 8.0 could have a central romance in it, a serious one, not one played for laughs.

[Hallarem]

People like to complain that Y'shtola is uninteresting. I always have to remind them that she's actually barely been IN the story.

ARR? She's only 1 of 3 possible paths.
Heavensward? Spends most of the expansion in the Lifestream.
Stormblood? Spends most of the expansion half-dead in the hospital.
Shadowbringers? Spends like a third of it innawoods.
Endwalker was actually the first time in years she was actually around for most of the story arc.
Don't worry, they fixed that in Dawntrail, she shows up for two scenes, literally phones in her lines, and then just... "Scions" in the background, like all the other Scions.

It's little wonder she has no real focus, she's been half-dead or missing for most of the game's life cycle so far.

And in Endwalker when she showed up the writing team tried to character assassinate her into a magical girl, so much that Yoshi P had to step in and say "NO"

[Haru304]

Y'shtola has the least development of any Scion and is basically FFXIV Hermione.

Tataru has more character development than Y'shtola.